Titan through time
by Syrup-Waffle
Summary: As his life came to an end, Eren Yeager reflects on his past and all the people who lost their lives. Wishing he could do it all over again, suddenly becomes reality when he's back in Shiganshina as a child with the knowledge of all future events. Feeling the power of the titans still inside his body, he makes a vow to save all the people living behind the walls, once and for all.
1. Guess who's back?

**Oh no, why am I doing this to myself? I don't have time to be writing another story. :P I've kinda been binge watching season two of Attack on Titan, and then did the same for the manga. XD There will be massive spoilers in this story. So you're warned. If you haven't caught up with the manga and you don't wish to be spoiled, then don't read.**

 **I had this idea for a long while, and since I was bored, I decided to write this. I hope you guys enjoy. :)**

''Titans'' Speech

 _''Titans''_ Thoughts

* * *

Thirteen years had passed. The island of Paradis was completely titan free now. The walls were not needed anymore, and as such, with the help of Eren and Historia, the titans within were eradicated as well. The country of Marley was at the brink of destruction, their titan shifters insignificant compared to the technological advances of their neighboring countries. Thunder spears were upgraded into the more effective Ackerman spears, the name a tribute to the family line who were so efficient in taking down these mindless, human-eating giants. An Ackerman spear had enough power to kill a titan in a single blow.

Unfortunately, what remained of the Eldians inside the country of Marley was killed, their internment zones burned to the ground. They had failed to retrieve the Founding titan two times over, and Marley declared it an embarrassment only punishable by death.

The rest of the world knew the real truth of Eldian history by now. They were not _devils that used to cleanse the people of Marley in the past,_ they had brought prosperity to the land instead. Ymir, the first woman to ever inherit a titan, was benevolent. The people of Marley were jealous and anxious that this amazing power was going to be used against them sooner or later. So they spread lies, and once they gained enough power, began to oppress the Eldians. But now, the tables had turned. The Eldians of Paradis had allied with the neighboring countries of Marley, and they agreed to split the ground evenly if Paradis shared their resources with them.

Eren's time, unfortunately, had finally come; his thirteen years were up. He had accomplished his dream. In the end, he had crushed all the titans. He had been so ignorant of the world when he made that promise. He didn't know anything about the titans at that time, only that they ate humans and brought humanity almost to extinction. How foolish he had been that his mind didn't expand further than the walls he used to live in.

All the titans were his own kin: Eldians doomed to wander Utopia for eternity until they died, and humanity certainly wasn't at the brink of extinction either. It was all Marley's fault. They brainwashed the Eldians who were left behind into believing that they—the people of Paradis—were devils. Only if humanity inside the walls had perished, could the Eldian race be restored into its former glory and their sins be washed away. Pretty words that bore no meaning. They were empty promises, only believed if they were forced into your head the moment you were born.

Eren guessed the same could be said for him, and all the people who were born inside the walls. Their whole life was one big lie as well. Nobody ever told him different. He was sure that if Bertolt, Reiner and Annie hadn't attacked, he would still live his life in obliviousness of the outside world.

Yet, with all his accomplishments, Eren felt empty. Mikasa hadn't left his side the entire day. She tried to remain strong, but he could see she was seconds away of breaking down. It teared him up to see her in such disarray. He knew he had to leave her soon. Even when she knew this day was going to happen eventually, she wanted to marry him. They had done so exactly one year ago.

Right now, he was chained, ready to hand over his two titans. The Survey Corps discussed heavily about who was going to be Eren's successor. In the end, it was decided that Jean was going to inherit the Attack and Foundation titan.

''Eren,'' Mikasa whimpered with teary eyes. He was not used to seeing her in such an emotional state. She was always the shoulder he could cry on. He cursed himself for not kissing her that day when they were about to be devoured by the smiling titan. He'd wanted to spend so much more time with her. Why couldn't he have realized he loved her sooner? He'd been so dense, only fueled with anger to take revenge for his mother's death.

''Eren,'' she whispered again, her hands holding his cheeks gently. Her touch was filled with passion, tears flowing freely from her face. ''My whole life, I dedicated to you. The moment you saved me and wrapped that scarf around me, a feeling welled up inside of me that grew every day I spent with you. I did everything in my power to keep you save, but even I can't stop the curse of Ymir.''

''Mikasa…''

''Shh,'' she shushed him, laying a finger against his lips. ''It's okay, Eren I—I knew this was going to be the outcome.'' She hiccuped and closed her eyes, her sniffles turning into whimpers of agony. A sob escaped her lips, followed by another, until it spiraled down into nothing but emotional despair.

''Why?'' she cried angrily, her head turned low. She balled her fist and hit Eren on his chest. ''Why? Why? Why?'' she repeated, each hit filled with less strength. ''Why do you have to leave me?'' she whimpered in a soft tone. ''I love you.''

Mikasa closed the gap between her and Eren, and pressed her lips wantonly against his. Her lips quivered, salty and wet from her tears as she poured all her emotion into the kiss.

'' _Mikasa,''_ Eren thought, his own eyes tearing up as she was kissing him for the final time. _''I'm so glad, that I got to meet you, and that I were able to marry you.''_

Mikasa didn't want to let go of him. Eventually, Hange and Levi had to pry her away gently. She was unable to watch any longer, her soft crying breaking Eren's heart.

He looked around the room and saw his friends, all in an emotional state or trying to console Mikasa. _''My friends,''_ Eren thought, _''how many of them did I lose?''_

Only a handful had survived after all was set and done, and that pained Eren more than anything. _''So many lives, and they're all gone. Why did this have to happen?''_

Eren closed his eyes. He saw Hange approach Jean with a syringe, ready to inject him, who was trembling in fear. Eren did not want to see how his friend would turn into a titan and devour him.

'' _If I could do it all over again, I would. I would save Paradis, and all the other Eldians living inside Marley.''_ It was strange how calm Eren felt when he thought about this.

''Jean, if you're ready, then let's begin,'' Hange informed him.

Jean had to steel his nerves and swallow to get his dry throat wet again. He was going to eat one of his best friends. He almost couldn't stomach the thoughts.

''Eren!'' he screamed suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts and making him look up. ''I swear to fulfill my duties as titan shifter with honor! I promise to take care of Mikasa in your absence and I'll make sure to spread peace so that the Eldians can prosper again. So stop your crying before I have to beat the shit out of you, you hear me!?'' His voice was heavy as his emotions got the better of him. Jean's tears streamed down his face as he gave Eren a look of absolute sorrow and respect.

For the first time, Eren smiled, and closed his eyes again. ''Jean… Thank you.'' Eren let his eyes wander the room one more time. ''Everyone, thank you. We all stand here today because you believed. You believed humanity could one time get outside of the walls. All of us made that dream into a reality. It was because of our hard work that we stopped one-hundred years of living as caged birds.''

Eren saw everybody listening intently, their hearts filling with hope for the future. Yet, why felt he so miserable? He couldn't shake the feeling that he had failed.

'' _So many people,''_ he thought again. _''So many innocent people.''_

''Jean… It is time,'' Eren concluded. His friend nodded and gave the go ahead to Hange. At the same time, Eren saw his life flash before his eyes. _''Mikasa, Armin, Connie, Levi, Hange, Jean… please take good care of this world.''_ Eren felt the pressure of a titan shifting close by, he knew it was only a matter of seconds before he felt those sharp teeth crush his flesh and bones into nothing.

'' _Is this what my father felt when I was about to eat him?''_ At that moment, an incredible fear took over Eren's body. _''No, I don't want to die yet! I want to grow old with Mikasa and have children. I want to see the nation of Eldia rise to its former glory with Historia as its leader. I want my mom to hold me!''_

Eren didn't know where that last thought came from, but he held on to it. He imagined how his mother would always soothe him when he had hurt himself. Mikasa would look at him with a scowl on her face. He always wondered why she was mad at him at such a moment, but only now realized it was because how much she cared and how afraid she was to lose him.

'' _Mom… Please hold me for a while longer.''_

* * *

When Eren opened his eyes, he awoke with a jolt. Sweat dripped from his face, and his hands trembled. His pupils were dilated into pinpricks, his heart was beating in his throat, and his breathing was erratic and uneven. Everything was spinning before his eyes; he felt like he needed to puke.

''Eren!''

He gasped; the familiarity of that voice hitting him like a ton of bricks. _''There's no way,''_ he thought, his breathing turning raspy. _''It can't be.''_

''Eren, sweetie, you're as pale as a ghost! Grisha! Come quickly, there's something wrong with Eren!''

'' _Could it be? Am I dreaming while I'm dead?''_

Eren's father stormed into the room with a concerned look on his face. ''Eren, calm down. What happened?''

He looked at his father owlishly, unblinking as if he couldn't believe it. Even if his vision was unclear, he could clearly make out his father's figure. _''What is happening to me?''_ Eren could only murmur incomprehensible. He felt light headed, his arms two blocks of lead he could barely move.

''Carla, get my stethoscope!'' Grisha ordered, his voice not hiding his panic.

Eren felt the strong hands of his father gauging his temperature, which was way too high. ''This isn't good,'' he muttered. ''Carla!'' he screamed. ''Get a bottle of pills that's labelled as AB!''

''I'm on it!''

'' _Is my mind playing tricks on me?''_

Eren was still looking at his father like he was seeing a ghost, until another figure worriedly joined his father's side. ''Eren!'' Mikasa's voice trembled. ''What happened?''

'' _An angel,''_ Eren's first thought were. He didn't realize he actually said that out loud.

Mikasa's cheeks turned an adorable shade of red instantly, matching the scarf she wore so often. If the situation wasn't so serious, Grisha was sure he had to stifle a chuckle.

'' _Mikasa, you look so young. Am I really dreaming this?''_

With a throat that felt like sandpaper, Eren tried to voice his thoughts. ''D-dad?'' he rasped.

Grisha shushed him immediately. ''It's okay, Eren. You'll be okay. You've got a high fever, so you need to rest. Don't use what little strength you have to talk.''

''Dad,'' Eren said again, ignoring his father's words of advice. ''What year is it?''

Grisha perked his brow. Was a virus messing with his son's brain and giving him a state of amnesia? If so, his antibiotics would have no effect whatsoever. _''You're overreacting, Grisha,''_ he reassured himself. It was just a simple question.

''It's the year 845, Eren,'' his father informed him.

''So, then it is true…'' Eren whispered.

''What? What is true, Eren?'' Mikasa responded in a somewhat demanding voice. At the same time, his mother had returned with the stethoscope and the pills in question, while his father took a couple of them and held them to Eren's mouth. ''Here, Eren, these will make you feel better. Swallow them with some water.''

Mikasa was already running for a glass of water, not bothering to wait for Eren to answer.

'' _I'm really back. Back where it all started. Does that mean I don't have…''_

An irregular beat of his heart stopped that thought from finishing. _''No, I still have it! I can feel the power of the titans still inside of me. But how? My father is right here with the same titan power. Is it even possible to have two of the same titan powers at once?''_

Eren looked at his father, and then back at the pills. ''I'm okay, father. I don't need antibiotics, just something to drink.''

Grisha stiffened immediately at his reply.

'' _Did I say something wrong?''_ Eren thought.

''Eren, honey? What are antibiotics?'' his mother questioned.

'' _Shit,''_ Eren cursed. Antibiotics were unknown behind the walls in 845. Only his father knew about them because he was from Marley. He must have taken a few bottles with him when he came here.

'' _Well, I have to explain the situation to my father sooner or later. The fact we're all together means wall Maria hasn't fallen yet either.''_

Then it dawned on Eren. _''I can save everybody. I can stop the wall from being breached by Bertolt, Reiner and Annie! With my father, I can save even the Eldians who're still living inside Marley!''_

Eren could only think that the curse of Ymir was the cause of all of this. It must've reacted to his strong will to save everybody. It had sent him back in time to do things over and free the people of Eldia. He could accomplish this without losing a single life inside the walls!

He gratefully accepted Mikasa's glass of water and gulped it down, alleviating his sore throat and feeling much better already. ''Thanks, Mikasa. You're a charm.''

The surprise on her face and the blush that appeared on her cheeks were too adorable. If he knew he could embarrass her this easily when they were young, he would've done it way sooner.

''Eren? Could we maybe talk, privately?'' his father requested.

Eren nodded his head in agreement. He had a lot to tell him. His mother and Mikasa left the room, and when Grisha closed the door, he held the bottle of his pills in his hand and shook the contents.

''How did you know they were called antibiotics? Have you been snooping around in my basement?''

Eren smiled. For so long he wondered what was in his father's basement. To imagine the whole history of the world was stored there in three books was mind boggling.

''No father, I haven't. You know I would never go into your basement without your permission.''

''Then how?'' Grisha questioned.

''Can you make sure Mikasa isn't listening? What I'm going to tell you will sound ridiculous, but you won't have any choice but to believe me.''

A gasp could be heard from the other side of the door, before someone was running away hurriedly.

Grisha nodded his head. ''We're alone now. Please, tell me your story.''

Eren cut to the chase immediately. ''I know you're from Marley, Father. In fact, I know everything there is about titans, the history of Paradis, and the Eldians as well.''

For some reason, Eren had expected his father to react shocked, but he stayed surprisingly calm. ''I see,'' he stated, ''I figured as much, to be honest. You talk like a level-headed adult.''

''I do? I guess people really change when they grow older.''

Grisha nodded his head. ''Then I assume you're not my son, are you?''

''I am!'' Eren replied quickly, his tone hurt that his father would even think that way. ''To be honest with you, I'm from the future.''

Grisha grumbled. ''There's no way that can be true. You want to tell me that you got sent back to the past?''

Eren nodded his head. He knew he had to convince his father. He wouldn't have believed it either if Armin or Mikasa came to him one day and claimed they were from the future. ''I can proof it to you too.''

Grisha responded sceptically. ''How?'' This day was proofing to be quite an interesting one.

''Your plan is to retrieve the Founding titan from the Reiss family with your Attack titan and then give it to me, as your thirteen years are almost up. You actually succeeded and gave them both to me. In fact, I still have them.''

''Impossible!'' This time, his father did react shocked. He licked his dry lips and stared incredulously at his son. As much as he didn't want to believe it, it really began to look Eren was telling the truth.

''I really think it's the curse of Ymir,'' Eren admitted. ''Do you remember the time when _the owl_ gave you the Attack titan? I saw it in your memories which I inherited from you. He mentioned saving Armin and Mikasa, and you were confused who those people were. But you know now, don't you? _The owl_ knew the future: he was sent back in time as well. I can only assume to save you and give you his titan powers.''

Grisha didn't say anything for the longest of time. _''Could it be true? Is my son really from the future? If he is, then does that mean the Eldian people were wiped away?''_ Grisha had so many questions that his head began to ache.

''Okay, you are right. I have to believe you based on what you're saying.'' Grisha sighed. ''But was does it mean? Why are you back?''

Eren looked at his father seriously. ''When are you going to leave for the interior?''

''The interior? Tomorrow, why?''

'' _That's when Bertolt, Reiner and Annie will attack. We have to intercept them before they reach the wall tomorrow.''_

''Father, listen. Tomorrow, the Colossal titan, the Female titan and the Armored titan will attack Shiganshina and breach wall Maria. Countless of lives will be lost… including mom's.''

''What?'' his father whispered. He could feel his hands beginning to sweat. _''If that's true, then humanity is doomed.''_

''We can stop them together! If we set out and reach them before they reach the wall, we can save everybody!''

Grisha reacted somberly. ''Eren, what you're saying is suicide. It's like surrendering and giving our titans to the enemy!''

Eren grinned. ''But we have the Founding titan. I can control it decently and I already know how I'm going to use it.''

The more Eren talked, the more Grisha's head began to spin. _''He's really serious about this. How can he even control the Founding titan when he has no royal blood running through his veins? If he was Zeke I would've believed him, but…''_

Eren explained further at his father's questioning glance. ''I've found out that when touching a titan which has royal blood, I can control all nearby titans. I trained this until I was able to control titans with just being near somebody with royal blood. It's how I tore down these walls in the future when Marley was at the brink of defeat, as we had no use for them anymore.''

''Amazing,'' his father responded. _''So, my son did save the Eldians. I couldn't be prouder of him.''_

''So what you're saying is that we should get somebody from the Reiss family with us, and then together, we can get the mindless titans to attack the Colossus, Female and Armored, correct?''

Eren shook his head. ''That would cause too much trouble inside the walls. Frieda would use her Foundation titan on you. We need to do this silently without anybody noticing. Once we've defended wall Maria successfully, we can go about changing some politics around here.''

Grisha didn't understand. ''Then how are we going to use the Founding titan?''

Eren looked at his father painfully. ''Dina, your first wife. She still wanders as a mindless titan outside these walls, doesn't she?''

His father stayed silent.

''But not for long,'' Eren whispered. Feelings of hatred still welled up inside his body as Eren thought about the smiling titan: the one who ate his mother. Unfortunately, that titan was also his step-mom. An innocent woman who was turned into a titan by the country of Marley, and who Eren ultimately killed.

''She'll be one of the first titans to breach wall Maria, meaning she's somewhere at the front of the horde. Our mission is to get close to her so I can command all the other titans to do to our bidding. If that won't be enough, we'll retreat to the wall, where I can command some of the wall titans to help us as a last-ditch effort. We'll defeat all three titan shifters, and give Dina the female titan.''

Grisha couldn't believe his ears, but this plan of his son might actually work. _''Dina would live again, and fight with us, for Eldia!''_ he thought in disbelief and extreme excitement. ''What will we do with the other two shifters?''

''Well, I was thinking of capturing all three of them and finding a way to retrieve their titans without killing them. After all, they would be valuable allies.''

Grisha put his hand to his chin, deep in thought. ''You want to bet on the off chance that I can find a way to retrieve the power of the titans without killing the host?''

Eren shrugged his shoulders. ''It's worth a shot, isn't it?'' his features turned soft. ''Besides, if there's somebody who can find the answers, it'd be you.''

Grisha smiled warmly, and took his son into his arms, giving him firm hug. ''As crazy as this whole plan sounds, I want to give it a try at least,'' his father admitted.

Eren felt a huge relief wash over him. He had convinced his father. He was home, in his arms. His mother was alive, his father was alive, Mikasa was alive and he was alive. Tomorrow, he would stop the threat of Marley with his father. This time, Eren was going to save everyone.

* * *

 **So that concludes the first chapter. Did you guys like it? Leave me a review please. :) Next chapter, Eren and Grisha VS Bertolt, Annie and Reiner. Until then. ^^**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


	2. Back again

**I told you guys I didn't have time to write another story. :P I apologize for the wait, but I'm back! I would never abandon a story, so I'll try to be consistent from now on and give you a chapter once every three weeks! Also, I changed a couple of small things in the first chapter, but nothing major. :) I hope you'll enjoy chapter two!**

''Titans!'' Speech

 _''Titans!''_ Thoughts

* * *

''Hey, dad?'' Eren said, breaking the hug with his father. His voice was soft, almost unsure. Grisha assumed it was because he still hadn't fully realized yet where he was at the moment.

''Yeah, Eren?'' he responded calmly. As crazy as it sounded, Grisha had less difficulties accepting the fact his son was an adult in his teenage body and from the future than he would've expected. The prospect of saving all the Eldians and seeing his first wife again outclassed the absurdity of it all.

Eren coughed to find the right words, his eyes darting towards the door where his mother had gone through. _''She's there, probably doing the dishes while humming a happy tune. Mikasa is probably helping her, worrying about me.''_ Taking a quick look around to take in his surroundings, his mind reassured him he was really in his old room. Everything was on the exact same spot as the day Shiganshina district fell.

''This may sound like an odd request,'' he whispered as he eyed his dad again, his heart beating faster in his chest, ''but could you send mom to my room? I—I'd like a moment alone with her, please.''

Eren almost choked up, his eyes turning watery. Now that his mind had settled down a little, the full weight of reality crashed down on him. His mom was _alive._ He could see her, talk to her, and hug her. The emotions that poured out of his body were like a dam that broke.

Grisha smiled warmly while he looked at how Eren wiped the tears away that rolled down his cheeks; he saw how much his son was aching to see his mom. It must be a surreal experience to finally be able to see a loved one again who had passed away for so many years.

''I understand fully,'' his father responded, opening the door to get Carla and then looking back. ''When you're done,'' he added, ''could you meet me in my basement? We have a lot of planning to do tonight.''

Eren nodded his head. He knew if they wanted to succeed, they had to think this through. No more rushing into battle blindly. He had the entire night to prepare for the titan-shifters from Marley. He knew all three of them like the back of his hand. Defeating them was going to be tough, but this time around, he had the upper hand and not them.

When Grisha disappeared in the door opening—apparently satisfied with his son's answer—everything seemed to get deadly silent. In truth, this was not the case. He could hear Mikasa's disgruntled voice from downstairs, arguing with his father who responded calmly and sternly. He could only assume she was demanding him to tell what was going on, but she eventually settled down. Yet, with all the noise going on, it was like he was at the grassy meadow where he used to play with Armin and Mikasa a lot when he was younger.

He always liked the silence there while he stared at the humongous wall otherwise known as Maria, convinced no titan was ever be able to break through. It reminded him of this moment, where it seemed nobody was able to harm him or his family.

Then, he heard the soft, feminine steps of his mother come upstairs. A silent gasp escaped Eren—the stiffening of his muscles his only preparation as she appeared in the doorway. There she was, and she was exactly like how he remembered; those warm eyes—now full of concern for him—locked unto his, seemingly searching for any possible injury. Her soft hands were clasped together—hands that would always soothe him so lovingly whenever he got in a fight or hurt himself.

''Eren?'' she asked silently, taking a gentle step forwards. She saw how her son was shivering. The white of his eyes was bloodshot and tears had poured down his cheeks. Whatever had happened was emotional, and she could hear how her son was crying out to her silently, begging her to hold him. It was a mother's instinct that had perfect accuracy.

At the sound of her voice, Eren hiccuped while fresh tears streamed down his face. ''Mom,'' he croaked, his voice uneven as he held out his hands to her. ''M—Mom!''

Carla didn't need more reason to rush to her son's side and envelop him into a gentle, motherly hug. She didn't need to say anything to console him either; she knew her presence was enough as Eren cried on her shoulder, holding her tightly like he was afraid she'd disappear into thin air.

At that moment, all the emotions Eren had held in for so many years were finally released. He cried tears of joy for his mom, but also tears of sadness for all the despair he'd been through. He could smell the familiar scent in her hair, hear the soft hums leaving her throat and reverberate through his broken mind, making him whole again.

He didn't know how long he just sat there, his mother wrapped around him like a protective cocoon, enveloping him and shielding him from all the evil in the world. All Eren knew was how much he realized he had needed this.

When he finally—almost reluctantly so—left his mother's embrace, he gave her a weak laugh, like he couldn't believe he was the luckiest guy in the world. His mother let a giggle escape her mouth in return. She wiped his cheeks clean with her thumb while stroking them lovingly, her eyes warm and pleasant.

Eren remembered he'd always groan when she did that, but he was not going to groan today. He understood she was confused about what was going on, but also saw she was okay with that. There was no way he was going to be able to hide what he was going to do with his dad for long anyway, and he wasn't planning on it either. His mom had the right to know, as did Mikasa. But for now, he had a district to protect.

''Mom,'' he whispered, pausing so he could take her hand into his, closing his eyes as she continued to give him gentle affection. ''Thank you.''

* * *

Later that evening in the basement of Grisha, Eren was going over the plan with his father one more time. ''All right, our top priority is to stop the titan-shifters from reaching wall Maria, so we have to leave early in the morning to intercept them.'' Eren drew a circle around the area on a map of Paradis where they'd most likely find them. ''We know what direction they came from and where they're heading, so their camp for tonight must be somewhere here.''

Grisha nodded his head in agreement. If Eren's recollections of the event were accurate, the simple math he had done to pinpoint their location would have to be correct. ''After we've found them, we stay low and we wait for the right moment to strike,'' Eren added.

His father rubbed his chin. ''You told me they were going to attack with four titans initially, right?''

''Yeah. The jaw titan is present too, but not for long. We shouldn't intercept until he's eaten by Ymir. Not only will she be a very valuable ally to us, but if we attack before the jaw titan is gone we have to deal with four of them. Besides, he was their leader, if we face them immediately afterwards they'll be vulnerable.''

''That's very clever thinking and strategizing,'' Grisha praised, ''but are you sure we should approach them in our human forms? What if they attack immediately because they see us as their enemies?''

Eren hummed. His father's question was a very legitimate one. He had thought about it a lot—if they would immediately surprise them in their titan forms or not, and ultimately, decided it was better to take the slow approach. ''They're not going to. In the state they're in, they most likely won't think of killing another human being, especially if we don't appear as a threat. Besides, we don't want to scare them; we want to talk sense into them first before we will resort to violence.''

''This is going to be hard.'' Grisha groaned. ''They have been brainwashed by Marley since they were born. I'm not much of a psychologist, Eren, but it's going to take time, more time than we have available.''

Eren knew his father was right, but he also knew these three titan-shifters by heart. They were just innocent Eldians—merely children—forced to do what Marley had commanded them to do in hope of a better life. He knew their motives, and with what he had to offer, hoped he could get them on his side.

''We're going to have to try. Especially the female titan, Annie Leonhart, is not fooled by Marley's deceptiveness. If we get her to change her mind, the two boys are most likely inclined to follow,'' Eren explained.

''And what if they don't?'' Grisha asked. He knew the answer already, but he was just making sure.

''Then we're going to battle and defeat them with the intention to capture them alive. We only kill them if really necessary,'' Eren responded resolutely. He had done enough killing in his previous life. This time, he was going to save as many lives as possible instead. ''Keep a look out for Dina and protect her with every fiber of your being. She can't die if we want the mindless titans on our side.''

Grisha rubbed his temple, his palms sweaty as he wiped them off on his pants. ''Eren, I just hope you know as much about the power of the titans as you do about this catastrophic event,'' his father said. ''Inheriting a titan power from somebody without killing the host is going to be a hard one for me to crack, never mind that my thirteen years are almost up as well.''

''Well, if somebody is going to find the answers, it's going to be you,'' Eren said resolutely. ''You're very smart, dad, but let's do one thing at a time.''

''All right then, you're right,'' his father agreed, calming down a bit. ''These shifters, we haven't talked about their personalities or skills yet, what are they like?''

Now, Eren smiled fondly. He didn't know why a frown hadn't appeared on his face instead. These shifters had betrayed the Survey Corps and killed countless of innocent human lives. Yet, the only thing he could think of was how Annie had taught him her fighting-style, how Reiner acted like the big brother he never had and how Bertolt was the silent support he could always rely on. He would never forgive them for what they did, but at this moment, all of that hadn't happened yet.

''I talked about Annie before. She's the female titan and also the scariest when it comes to facing in battle. Her style is very unique, relying on a lot of well placed kicks and blocking a lot with her arms. She also has the ability to harden parts of her body, though I can do that too.'' Eren smiled at his father's amazed look.

''Keep your distance from her or stay right in her face, take out her legs first,'' he suggested wisely.

''Reiner, the kid with the blonde hair, is the armored titan. He'll be very frail and indecisive when we face him because he blames himself that the jaw titan is dead, so battling him shouldn't be a problem for me. I've taken him down multiple times in the past—the future for you,'' Eren elaborated. ''His armor is pretty much impenetrable, as you may know, so you have to rely on locks and hitting him on his joints if you find yourself facing him.

''Lastly, Bertolt, the kid with the black hair, is the colossus titan. Whatever we do, our first priority is knocking him out before he can shift. He'll follow Annie or Reiner no matter what, so when one of those two shift, he will too, so then we go for Bertolt immediately. If he manages to get in his titan, I will focus all the mindless titans on him to keep him busy. We'll take down Annie and Reiner first, and lastly Bertolt by cutting his Achilles tendons.''

The confidence that radiated from Eren surprised Grisha for a moment, but then he closed his eyes and chuckled. Only his son could come up with such a risky plan and be confident it was going to work foolproof. ''Well,'' he admitted, ''I do have to say we have a big chance of making this work. After all, surprise is on our side and the conditions the shifters find themselves in are very poor. Also,'' Grisha added with a wide grin, ''You have to teach me how to do that hardening trick sometime.''

The excitement that twinkled in his father's eyes was something Eren never could get tired of. He gave his dad a firm nod and a warm hug afterwards. ''I missed you, dad. So, so much.''

''I can imagine it must've been hard for you, Eren,'' his father sympathized. ''But I'm here now, and so are you. It's going to be all right.''

At the same time, a distraught voice could be heard coming from upstairs that Eren recognized as his mom, immediately followed by Mikasa's angry one. Her footsteps got closer until the door to the basement was opened rather harshly.

''Mikasa, please,'' Carla pleaded after her, but she was promptly ignoring her surrogate mother and stormed downstairs to face Grisha and Eren.

She was still as beautiful as ever, with her gorgeous black hair flowing from every side, and the cute scarf he'd given her wrapped around her face. Her eyes were piercing daggers, though, particularly at him, but he knew her so well that he had no trouble recognizing it as the ploy she used to hide her concerns and uncertainties. From the inside, she was scared, because she felt something big and dangerous was about to happen to them, and she wanted to know every single detail right now so she could keep Eren safe.

''I'm sorry,'' Carla apologized, ''I tried to stop her, but she's persistent.''

''Eren,'' Mikasa said harshly, trying to sound intimidating. ''Tell me what's going on right now!''

Instead of being afraid of her or getting angry like he would normally be, he stayed calm and approached Mikasa until he was face to face with her. All of a sudden, her confidence was non-existent. Eren would never do something so bold like this, and instead of flat out refusing to answer her like she had expected to, he did something even more incredulous.

He gave her a kiss right on her nose.

The blush that appeared on her face was the most adorable thing he'd ever seen. Mikasa acting shy was something that was unheard of, but here she was, unable to comprehend what just happened. Gosh, she was so cute!

''I can't tell you yet, Mikasa,'' he replied genuinely, holding one of her hands, ''but I promise I will as soon as the time is right. You have to trust me on this one. Can you do that for me?''

Mikasa balled her fist and turned her head low. For a moment, Eren was afraid she was going to hit him, but instead, she gently put her fist on his chest. Looking up at him, her eyes had turned soft and a little bit scared; she'd calmed down at least. ''Do you promise me you'll be safe, Eren?'' she whispered.

''I promise you, Mikasa,'' he said. Eren knew she wasn't convinced in the slightest, but wasn't going to press anymore. She slowly went back upstairs again and found the embrace of Carla. ''Let's get you to bed, sweetie, it's getting late,'' she cooed. ''Eren, you won't make it late either, will you?''

''I won't, mom. Dad and I have wrapped things up here.'' He nodded at his father. ''I'll go to bed in a minute.''

His mom gave a kind smile and then disappeared with Mikasa upstairs. Eren sighed; this was going to be a lot tougher than he'd initially thought. Telling his father the truth was one thing, but his mom and especially Mikasa? Now that was going to be difficult.

''You shouldn't wait too long before telling the truth,'' Grisha suggested. ''It's like she has a sixth sense for things like this. She's deadly scared for your safety.''

''I know,'' Eren agreed, ''I will do so after we're finished saving Shiganshina.'' He shook his head. ''You have to tell mom too, you know.''

''I know, son,'' Grisha replied bitterly. ''But like you said, we'll do one thing at a time. Now let's get to bed. We need every bit of energy tomorrow.''

* * *

Early in the morning, at the break of dawn of a new day, the impossible had happened to Reiner Braun. He was on his knees in the dirt, clutching his head together in refusal. His whole body was numb, his eyes wide as saucers as he looked at how thick, salty droplets of his tears fell to the ground.

''Marcel, no,'' he whimpered, shutting his eyes tightly. _''It's all my fault,''_ he thought, his head throbbing with pain. _''He's dead because of me. A titan ate him because of me.''_

''What do we do now?'' Bertolt yelled to the group anxiously, his breathing erratic. They'd just fled from the titan that ate Marcel. They hadn't even reached the wall yet and their leader was already killed. He looked desperately at Annie, who was in complete shock herself.

She tried to even her breathing and control the slight trembles in her hands. She had to assess the situation and think about this clearly. A sigh escaped her lips while she rolled her stiff shoulders. Marcel was gone, Reiner looked like he was going insane and Bertolt was as scared as a trapped mouse.

''We have to abandon the mission,'' Reiner muttered from the dirt. ''Without Marcel we're useless, we will be—AH!'' A swift kick to his face shut him up, his already throbbing head exploding in pain. Blood gushed out of his nostrils where Annie had hit him. She kicked him again between the ribs, knocking the wind out of him.

For some reason, beating the shit out of Reiner made Annie think clearly, her body surging with adrenaline as she used another well placed kick to hit Reiner straight across his cheek; it'd heal, she knew. A titan-shifter had an amazing healing factor. For the time being, she hoped it'd knock some sense back into Reiner.

After she had kicked him for a final time in his belly—making him wheeze and clutch it in pain—her features turned into a scowl. ''Are you suggesting we should go back to Marley, be disgraced in front of the whole nation and then executed while our families will continue to suffer from our failure?''

She eyed Bertolt, whose whole body was shivering from the rough treatment she was giving Reiner. She put her hands in her pockets and glared at Reiner again. ''You shouldn't have fled from that titan that killed Marcel. Now the jaw titan is lost and we have no idea how to retrieve it.''

Reiner growled at her in his pained state, blood running past his lips and chin to the ground below. He hated that she was right—right in the fact Marley would execute them, right in the fact Marcel's powers were lost because of him, and it made him so _angry_.

He wiped the blood from his face, slowly standing up while grimacing at the pain Annie had caused. It soon turned into a dull throb, the hopelessness of the situation making him realize they hadn't much of a choice. ''We have no other option but to continue the mission then,'' he agreed to Annie. He was already formulating a plan to avoid any other mindless titans while also closing the final gap between their location and the wall when Bertolt tapped him on his shoulder feverishly.

''We've got company, guys,'' he said, pointing his gun in the direction of two silhouettes approaching on the horizon. Both Annie and Reiner stiffened, expecting the worst, only to drop their guards in surprised stupor when the silhouettes turned out to be humans.

They could tell one of them was young, maybe around the same age as they were, while the other was definitely an adult. They couldn't make out any distinct features yet, but it was clear they were approaching them, which raised multiple questions in the shifter's minds.

''What are they doing here so far outside the wall?'' Bertolt whispered finally, voicing what they were all thinking. ''You don't suppose they're military, right?''

''Not likely,'' Annie replied. ''They look like normal travelers, but that's impossible considering how many titans are walking around here.'' She watched with a tense expression on her face how the duo came closer, the rising sun casting them partly in a shadowy cloak. Bertolt still had his gun raised on them, sweat dripping from his face.

''Should I shoot them?'' He asked unsurely. All three of them knew they were the devils of Paradis that needed to be wiped away, but they also knew that their mission was to get the founding titan first and foremost. Moreover, killing them would not give them answers to their questions.

''Don't shoot, but keep your gun at the ready,'' Reiner ultimately decided. He looked at Annie for confirmation, who nodded her head.

''Let's see what they want.''

Finally, they could make out their features. The clothes they were wearing immediately ruled out they were part of any sort of military. It came abundantly clear the travelers were family as well, probably father and son. They weren't carrying any sort of weapon either, but they knew looks could be deceiving. They had learned that the devils of Paradis were ruthless, and this was their first time interacting with them.

Annie sharply noticed they were very calm even though Bertolt had a gun pointed at them, and while the distance was relatively far still, he was an excellent sharp-shooter. The determination on their faces was the most troublesome in Annie's mind; it screamed they were here with a mission, and she didn't like that one bit.

''Stop,'' Reiner eventually commanded when they were only about ten meters away, which resulted in Bertolt being extra cautious for any sudden movements. When father and son obliged silently, Reiner eyed them up and down.

''Who are you and what are you doing here?'' he demanded. He didn't like how calm they remained. They should feel threatened in a situation like this, but that wasn't the case at all.

''Allow me to introduce myself, young warriors of Marley,'' the father began, which made all three of them stiffen slightly—he knew they were from Marley. ''I'm Grisha Yeager and this is my son Eren Yeager. We are here on account for all people living on Paradis,'' he revealed diplomatically, his tone not unkind. ''Please hear us out.''

Annie scowled slightly; Grisha—if he was called Grisha—had a silver tongue. She couldn't detect if he was lying or not, which led her to the conclusion he was telling the truth, even though she didn't want to believe it.

''Why would we waste our time hearing you out?'' she challenged them, just to make sure.

''Because we mean you no harm,'' Grisha offered gently. ''We're unarmed, as you can see, and in the middle of nowhere. You could shoot us if you so wish, but the fact you haven't yet leads me to believe you _want_ to hear what we have to say.''

Grisha had a good point. Annie looked at Reiner and Bertolt uncertainly, until both of them gave her a nod, telling her they were okay with it. ''All right,'' she admitted, ''we do want to hear what you have to say. So, go ahead.''

The man called Grisha paused for a moment, readjusted his glasses and then smiled slightly. ''I'm offering you guys a way out,'' he said simply.

''What do you mean?'' Reiner commanded, his nervousness building. The way how Grisha was implying things screamed he knew more than that they simply were warriors from Marley.

''I understand you are in a very precarious situation,'' he elaborated, ''with a dangerous task of infiltrating Paradis to receive the founding titan while also experiencing the death of one of your friends. There's no way back for you guys now, is there?''

Apparent shock was visible on all three of the shifter's faces. Reiner was baffled how much knowledge Grisha possessed about their mission. Had spies leaked information to Paradis in advance? He couldn't believe that could be the truth, the military of Marley had been so cautious.

At the same time, Annie was wondering the same thing. She felt anxiety kick in, but remained positively calm on the outside. Bertolt, however, was visibly shivering.

''How do you know all of that?'' he yelled, taking a few steps forwards while keeping his gun pointed at him. ''Answer me!''

''Bertolt, calm down,'' Annie replied, her mind working over hours to find an answer that would make sense. ''The last thing we want is to lose our cool.''

Bertolt growled at her, but eventually backed-off. Reiner had his teeth gritted as well, but didn't say anything for the time being. He knew Annie was right.

''I won't ask you how you know this information,'' she told Grisha, ''but it most likely means you also know we're extremely dangerous.''

He nodded. ''Hence why I want to avoid a conflict at all cost,'' Grisha admitted. He paused, looked at his son—who gave him a firm nod—before continuing. ''Listen, you guys don't have to destroy the wall or retrieve the founding titan. The people inside the walls are all Eldian like you and me, and they live a life of obliviousness. You would kill thousands of innocent people of your own kin, and for what? To become an honorary Marleyan? To restore Eldia in its former glory?'' Grisha shook his head. ''They're all lies told by your government.''

''Shut up!'' Reiner screamed while Bertolt also was on the brink of exploding. ''Are you devils trying to deceive us? You don't think but for a second that we would believe you!?'' he questioned.

For the first time, the boy who was introduced as Eren spoke up. ''We don't,'' he said gently, ''but is the alternative that Marley is speaking the truth anymore promising? They've locked you up in intermittent zones; they treat you like cattle and have taken your freedom away.'' He gave them all a serious look. ''You'd be all executed if you failed this mission. Would that ever happen if you were Marleyan?''

''Then what do you propose we should do?'' Annie replied, shutting both boys up before they would do anything rash. They looked at her like she'd lost her mind for even humoring the idea of listening, let alone being completely serious about it.

''Annie?'' both Reiner and Bertolt hissed incredulously. She waved them off; she was curious what they had to offer, which made Eren hopeful.

''Help me get you back your true freedom,'' he offered her genuinely. ''Please help us free the people of Eldia. We'll overthrow the faulty government that's installed in both Paradis and Marley together. You'd be free—truly free.'' He gave Annie a few moments to let that sink in.

''I know you don't trust us; I wouldn't either in your position, but I also know that you're deceptively good at spotting lies. So I'm asking you; has anything what my father and I have said not be truthful?''

''Don't listen to him, Annie,'' Reiner warned, his voice trembling and uneven. ''It's all a trick to lull you into a sense of security. The moment you take their offer they're going to capture you.''

Annie wanted to agree with Reiner, but something told her both Eren and Grisha were telling the truth. She knew Marley was full of crap and that her people were treated like trash. She'd hoped for a quiet life with her dad after she pulled this off, but knew deep down that was never going to happen. But now, these two strangers out of nowhere offered her such a ludicrous solution. She almost asked herself what she had to lose.

Both Reiner and Bertolt saw this too, their eyes widening like saucers at the very realistic threat to lose another friend and teammate. They had to do something drastically, and so, without warning, Reiner grabbed his knife and cut himself across the palm of his hand, triggering his shift into his titan form.

* * *

 **There you have it, folks. I promised you guys a battle, but I split the chapter because otherwise it would be too long. :P Did you guys like it, love it, hate it? Please review! I promise to respond to all the reviews I get. :3 Next chapter will truly be Annie, Reiner and Bertolt versus Eren and Grisha. Until then. ^^**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


	3. Eren's back

**As promised, chapter three is here! I am, unfortunately, in the middle of a writer's block that's very persistent. I hope I can give you the next chapter in three weeks! Anyway, enjoy this one in the meantime. :)**

* * *

 **~Guest: (...) I'm hooked up!  
**

 **Thank you! Enjoy the next chapter.**

 **~Guest: O** **ne of the best snk stories and certainly the most creative. hope you don't abandon it.**

 **Thanks a lot! I certainly won't.**

 **~Guest 105:** **I think I speak for all the anonymous and account readers when I say "Job well done" and "I can't wait for the next update". To put simply- keep up the good work!**

 **Thanks for the amazing praise. Hope this chapter was worth the wait!**

 **~Guest:** **Shouldn't Eren also have the War Hammer Titan?**

 **To answer shortly, you are right, but he doesn't in this story.**

* * *

''Titans'' Speech

 _''Titans''_ Thoughts

* * *

Yellow lightning cracked across the sky. A thunderous clap could be heard from miles away of Eren's and Grisha's location. An enormous blast off wind threatened to blow both father and son away, while Bertolt and Annie were actually knocked off their feet, the former dropping his gun in the process.

Bones, muscles and connective tissue began to fabricate and build itself up like a tower rising from the ground, forming itself into a moveable body. A strong, durable exoskeleton—as hard as steel—protected the body from all sides. Lastly, two menacing, piercing eyes glared down on Eren and Grisha as the armored titan rose to his full height.

''That's a slight problem,'' Eren commented while frowning, shielding his eyes from dust still flying his way. He was pretty positive about the situation they were in at the moment; Annie actually had seemed interested in taking them up on their offer. She just needed a bit more persuasion. Understandably so, both Reiner and Bertolt would take more time.

Grisha gritted his teeth while looking at his son worriedly; the armored titan could attack them at any moment. ''Eren, now?'' he yelled, panic gripping him from every side.

Reiner gave an ear-splitting roar, the ground shaking and cracking at the unbelievable power he was displaying.

''Not yet,'' Eren responded, narrowing his eyes. He got into a battle ready stance and found the familiar surge of the founding titan's powers from deep within his body. His eyes flashed with the same thunderous attributes as Reiner's transformation, albeit on a smaller scale, and he gave a loud power cry.

Reiner was preparing to trample both Eren and Grisha like a couple of insects; the couple of meters he had to cover were nothing to him. _''I'll teach you a lesson for trying to trick Annie in betraying us, you devils!''_ he thought angrily, foot raised high in the air to make an end to Grisha's and Eren's lives.

He was so blinded by anger that he completely failed to notice the twenty-meter-class that seemingly tackled him out of nowhere, knocking him off balance as he crashed explosively on his side, kicking up dust and shattering trees completely that were unfortunate enough to be in his way.

Both Annie and Bertolt were coughing to clear out their lungs; scratches and bruises covered their bodies entirely—courtesy of Reiner—as they picked themselves up from the ground. As disoriented as they were, they'd no idea what was happening until they saw a mindless titan on top of the downed armored titan.

''Annie, quickly,'' Bertolt screamed; knowing if he would transform now he would do serious harm to her, ''you have to help out Reiner against these devils! You have to—'' multiple high whistles zipped past him like the bullets of a machine gun, until excruciating pain wracked his mind and he felt like he was going to faint. He gurgled helplessly as blood spew forth from his mouth, his eyes wide in surprise, disbelief and total refusal as he looked at what was left of his shredded right arm and shoulder.

''Bertolt!'' Annie yelled hysterically, seeing that he was losing consciousness fast as he dropped to the ground, blood flowing from the gaping wounds in his right limb. His arm was torn off completely. Annie gawked at the apparent perpetrator in the distance; another mindless titan—most likely a five-meter-class—who was holding a bunch of rocks the size of baseballs in one of his hands. _''Did he just throw those?''_ she thought incredulously, looking back at Bertolt's unconscious form. _''That's impossible! They're mindless titans. Only if you posses the founding titan—''_

That thought died in her throat rather quickly as she looked at Grisha and particularly Eren. The electricity that flashed all around him said enough. _''No way.''_

Eren, meanwhile, looked at his handiwork with satisfaction. _''With kind regards of Zeke Yeager,''_ he thought as he looked at the immobilized colossus titan. _''Sorry, Bertolt, but I had to. You're way too dangerous to be dealt with right now.''_ His eyes turned back to Annie, whose expression radiated realization—realization filled with horror, anxiety but above all shock.

 _''That's right, Annie. I have the founding titan. So what are you going to do now? Help Reiner, or will you try to appease?''_ Eren looked back at his father and gave him a nod. ''Now!'' he yelled with determination dripping from his voice. He bit down on the skin of his wrist while Grisha did the same, following his son's lead.

Two more thunderous claps rang through the area. The earth shook like in an earthquake while two similarly strong looking titans took shape in the place of Eren and Grisha. If Annie's eyes could have widened more, they would've popped right out of her skull. She rubbed them to make sure if she was seeing things correctly, but her eyes were not deceiving her; in front of her was not one, but _two_ attack titans.

Reiner roared like a hungry lion as he threw the mindless titan off of him like it was a small child. It crashed somewhere behind him in a plume of smoke. It had taken a moment for him to realize what was happening until all of his senses started to work normally again. He got up rather clumsily, his whole body stiffening the moment he let his eyes rest on his transformed opponents. _''What the—''_

He couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. It was simply impossible and he wondered if he started to go insane. Two attack titans had taken a battle stance, ready to fight him while only _one_ existed.

Eren was smirking all the way. It didn't take a genius to figure out Reiner was completely caught off guard. At the moment, he was their only opponent and that was favorable. Eren had plenty of experience dealing with the armored titan alone, but it was nice to have some back-up. The moment Annie started to transform, he would shift his efforts to her while his father would continue to fight Reiner; he figured his father wouldn't have an answer to her hardening abilities, which he did have.

Just like they had planned, Eren took the lead while his father followed suit. The familiar thrill of battle excited Eren as a rush of adrenaline filled his body; it was almost soothing to him in a sense. His titan form let out a monstrous roar as he charged Reiner with all the energy he could muster. He could feel how his father was close behind him, analyzing their opponent and staying level-headed; he was their line of defense after all and more importantly, responsible for the safety of Dina—the smiling titan who Eren had hidden close by. If something would happen to her, they were in grave danger and had to retreat immediately. But for now, they held all the cards in their hands.

Reiner let out a panicked scream in his mind, the shock that there were two attack titans about to battle him paralyzing him for a couple of crucial seconds. _''What is happening?''_ his mind yelled to him anxiously. It took him longer than he would've liked to prepare himself, the anger he was feeling slowly overwhelming all his other senses. _''It doesn't matter,''_ he reassured himself then, mentally shaking his head, _''they tried to trick Annie, and for that, they will pay. They won't be able to penetrate my armor anyway, and once Annie and Bertolt transform, it'll be three against two.''_

Still, Reiner couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. That random titan that attacked him out of nowhere; it didn't make sense. He had his arms raised to protect his head while his feet shifted apart, creating a battle stance to prepare himself for the oncoming blows.

Eren growled at the familiar stance, his dash coming to a sudden halt when he'd reached Reiner, preparing to give him a punch straight across his left cheek. His fist hardened to steel like proportions, all the momentum he had created carrying to his arm to deliver a devastating blow.

Reiner was quick to block with his left arm with the intention to retaliate with his right, assuming his armor would be enough to nullify the punch, only to be shocked once more at the brute force _hammering_ his underarm. The strength in Eren's punch made a sickening crack reverberate through the area, his armor crumbling where he'd struck him. _''That's—''_ Reiner thought, hissing in alarm at the damage taken. He couldn't block the follow-up from Grisha, who gave a powerful low-kick at his knee joint.

It luckily didn't do nearly as much damage, but the fact Grisha had attacked and retreated successfully meant Reiner was going to be in trouble very soon if his teammates didn't come to his aide. _''Come on!''_ he thought angrily, _''what's taking you guys so long to transform and help me?''_

He had no idea Bertolt was knocked out already and Annie petrified to the bone. She was staring with wide eyes at the unfolding battle, muttering to herself like a lunatic. In hindsight, it was obvious what she should do; all her training had prepared her for such a moment, but nobody had told her there was going to be another way out.

 _''They really weren't kidding,''_ her mind argued, suppressing her instincts to help Reiner. _''What they offered was real; real salvation for you and all of the Eldians. They can give you a life with your dad. You'd be—normal.''_ That word, normal, she'd longed for it for as long as she could remember. She wanted that so badly.

Yet, her loyalty to Reiner and Bertolt wasn't something she could throw away. They were her friends; companions who she cared for a lot. She'd sworn to protect them with her life. So, between such a devastating loss so early on in their mission and now these two mysterious attack titans making things extremely difficult, she didn't know what to do.

Reiner, meanwhile, was still waiting for some sort of help when the complete opposite happened. That titan he'd thrown off earlier jumped on his back again, reducing his movement and leaving him wide-open for a counter-attack. Eren took this opportunity to deliver a swift uppercut to Reiner's chin, seriously damaging it while trying to follow it up with a hardened kick against his side.

However, Reiner saw it coming in time. With a bit of luck, he managed to get a good grip on the titan on his back and throw it off of him like a lethal object to Eren. The titan crashed violently against Eren's titan form, knocking him over and interrupting his kick. Reiner roared thunderously with anger, Grisha's second low-kick finding its mark on his knee bringing him out of his stupor as he staggered slightly.

 _''They've got a clever tactic,''_ Reiner admitted to himself, _''but that mindless titan should keep Eren busy while I'll deal with his dad. It appears he doesn't know how to harden his body, which is an immense relief at least.''_ Reiner thought he had a lucky break, but the twenty-meter-class didn't even bother to roar at Eren. Instead, it got up alongside him and then faced Reiner again, ready to pounce on him once more.

It then dawned on Reiner while absolute horror gripped his body that either Eren or Grisha had possession of the founding titan. It was the only logical conclusion for this titan's behavior, which was immensely alarming.

The slight thunder that crackled around Eren's body confirmed Reiner's suspicions. The mindless titan attacked with a sudden leap. Reiner had no other option but to stop it with a powerful punch. His fist connected with the titan's face and ripped through it, sending boiling hot blood flying everywhere as its body crashed lifelessly to the ground.

He knew he had no way to protect himself afterwards. Eren's foot was devastating. It struck him right across his jaw, the force breaking it where he'd hit and partly dislocating it. Reiner cursed loudly, his heart beating a mile a minute. His slightly injured knee gave in as well when Grisha connected his foot precisely under his kneecap, bringing him down on one knee.

Reiner knew he was a sitting duck at this point. It was only going to be a matter of time before Eren had rendered his arms useless too, and then it was just a question of getting him out of his titan to finish him off completely. _''I'm done for,''_ Reiner thought fearfully. He doubted if he could've taken on Eren alone at this point, never mind in combination with Grisha and the assistance of the founding titan.

 _''We've got him,''_ Grisha thought, his happiness overtaking his surprise. His son's crazy plan had worked. They'd saved Shiganshina; countless of Eldian lives would see the dawn of another day, oblivious to the fact they would've been killed if they hadn't intervened.

Just as Grisha started to relax a little, another flash and boom shifted his attention towards his left. He grunted; Annie had finally transformed in her titan form and was running at him threateningly, seemingly having made up her mind. _''And we were so close in convincing her too,''_ Grisha thought bitterly. Instead of waiting, he took his son's advice and began to close the distance.

It pained Annie to do this, but the moment she saw Reiner go down, she couldn't abandon him. She knew she'd basically just thrown her only chance away at a normal life. The pain she felt had made her teary eyed, pictures of her father hugging her flashing through her mind. It fueled her anger, sharpening her focus. Grisha roared at her, intent on tackling her legs and bringing her down.

In a split second, Annie had shifted her weight to her other leg and moved out of the way fluently. She avoided Grisha's tackle so smoothly that he was left utterly surprised. He could only watch as her knee hardened and she counter-attacked by bringing it roughly against his face. It exploded in a heap of blood, flesh and teeth, maiming him and leaving him utterly blind for the time being.

 _''Dad!''_ Eren screamed, seeing his father go down. He had to give him time to heal properly, but that would ensure Reiner would be up and running by the time he was done too. _''Why didn't you wait and let me handle her?''_ he questioned while gritting his teeth. This was a major set-back, especially since there were no mindless titans nearby to aide him except the five-meter-class and Dina. He knew the former wasn't going to do a thing against Reiner and he was never going to risk the latter. _''We're back at square one. I have to defeat Annie before Reiner is back on his feet again.''_

Annie left Grisha's partly defeated titan alone when she'd heard Eren's furious roar. She had expected him to run at her like his father did, but instead, he walked to her slowly, taking on a battling stance she was all too familiar with. _''That's… my battling stance,''_ she thought, whispering to herself. Her mind was giving her the weirdest sense of déjà vu she'd ever had. _''_ Who _are you?''_

She waited for Eren to make the first move, but he'd apparently expected that, because he was as patient as she was. They just eyed each other; one pair of eyes questioning everything, while the other pair of eyes seemingly held all the answers. In the background, Reiner was roaring, trying to get up, but his kneecap was locked in place, making him unable to stretch it, and his titan was way too bulky to stand on one feet. He could crawl, but knew that one well placed kick on his face would leave him utterly defeated. He could do nothing but wait until his knee had healed properly.

Finally, Annie was fed up with waiting. Her agile form made her able to bring her feet high above her head. She hardened it and moved it in a wide arc, trying to connect it with Eren's face. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew he was going to dodge it. She was as quick as lightning, but it wasn't enough to land her hit. Eren ducked like he'd expected her attack way in advance and then brought the rest of his body down in a sweeping kick.

He found her left ankle with his foot and saw it twist in a way it wasn't supposed to. Immediately, Annie lost her balance and fell down. She hadn't even hit the ground when Eren's hardened fist landed on her shoulder joint, destroying it into a bloody pulp and making her unable to lift her right arm. In just two quick moves, Annie was in the severe disadvantage.

 _''He knows my fighting style completely, like he has battled me countless of times before,''_ she realized, smoke rising from the places on her body where Eren had hit her. She could only hope that she could stall him long enough now with her hardening abilities until she could move a bit again.

Eren didn't let his guard down in the slightest and that was the correct thing to do too. While Reiner couldn't join the battle from up close, he could still do so from a distance away. He had managed to crawl to a decent sized rock and throw it at Eren with the deadly accuracy of a marksman. Eren was just barely able to dodge the boulder, although it scraped the left side of his stomach, drawing a nasty gash across it which began to bleed immediately.

The distraction left Annie with the opportunity to do some damage herself. She raised her left fist and punched Eren on his calf muscles from her grounded position. The result was a limp that reduced Eren's mobility and hindered him greatly.

 _''I need to keep Reiner occupied,''_ Eren thought, taking some distance from Annie. The commotion had lured in some more mindless titan to his vicinity, which was exactly what he needed. He commanded the eight giants of various sizes to attack Reiner, who was in the middle of crawling to another rock.

While Reiner was determined, that soon turned into despair when he saw the titans closing in on him. He roared to intimidate them and brought his fist down on the first titan that leaped at him. Just like before, he destroyed its head completely. The others were trickier to deal with. They all grabbed individual limbs and tried to hold him place, effectively rendering him completely immobile.

With Reiner dealt with for now, Eren looked back at Annie, already formulating a plan to get past her hardening abilities. He walked towards her—not being able to run anymore—and prepared to hit her straight between her ribs. As expected, Annie reacted accordingly and hardened the part of her body where he was about hit her, his attack and her defense cancelling each other out. However, it left the rest of her body completely open.

At the same time of his punch, Eren had commanded his five-meter-class to throw all the rocks he had left at Annie. The result was that she got pelted with a barrage of sharp objects that cut her everywhere.

 _''He's too strong,''_ Annie's panicked mind thought. _''There's got to be some way to shut down the founding titan. He has to have some way to control them. There's no way he or his father are from royal blood, so how?''_ Annie let her eyes scan the battlefield, but she couldn't detect anything; it was just an endless sea of rocks and patches of grass. The only thing that stood out to her was a relatively large rock that blocked her view a bit.

Eren attacked her again, his titan's piercing roar warning Annie to harden her ribs once more. The resulting blow was followed with another barrage of rocks. They were absolutely destructive in nature. Her left eye had been gauged; a weird, yellow-ish fluid dripped out of it. Her left ear had been completely torn off, and her whole body was bloody with cuts or chunks of flesh missing.

 _''She's not going to last much longer, I have to hurry up,''_ Eren thought. Unfortunately, Reiner's victorious roar shattered those hopes. His knee had healed long enough to stand up again; the incredible strength he possessed overwhelmed the titans who were holding him down. They were unable to hurt him due to his armor, and now, too weak to keep him in place.

He began to throw them off his body like petty insects, crushing them under his feet or otherwise beating their bodies into oblivion. Once he was free, he ran at Eren with all the strength he could muster.

Eren's eyes turned to slits; he knew he had to play this smart if he wanted to win. Reiner brought his body back to punch Eren straight in his face. The massive fist was just barely avoided, the momentum Eren had created with his dodge a perfect weapon to use in his retaliation. Smartly, he struck Reiner at the same spot where his feet had hit his jaw, dislocating it completely. With a mighty roar, he grabbed what remained of Reiner's unhinged jaw, and began to pull, ripping it loose with a sickening crack.

The result was a soft tissue spot in the form of Reiner's mouth that was left completely open. One good punch from Eren there and he would splatter his head from the inside out, which would mean game over for Reiner.

It seemed Reiner knew this too and was backing away fearfully; not only because he was certain now that he couldn't beat Eren alone, but also because Grisha's titan had healed enough to be standing again.

Grisha gave a nod to Eren, indicating he was ready to fight again. He made an apologetic gesture with his hand, which Eren waved off. Eren then pointed at Reiner while he turned his attention back at Annie, who was desperately trying to stand on her weakened ankle. Grisha understood. He roared angrily, ready to face Reiner and beat him once and for all.

 _''I'm sorry, Annie,''_ Eren thought, _''It's about time I finished this.''_ Eren commanded his five-meter-class to throw a larger rock at Annie, who expectedly reacted on reflex and hardened her chest area to block it. The rock was pulverized on impact, but Annie also realized with growing horror that it was a fatal error she'd just made, and it would cost her dearly.

She couldn't block Eren's foot; she wasn't fast enough and too weakened to dodge it. It hit her square on the cheek and just kept on going right through it, pulverizing her head and knocking her out of the battle. Her titan fell to the ground, her human form finding the sweet abyss of unconsciousness as she was defeated.

 _''That's two down,''_ Eren thought, _''only one to go.''_ He commanded the five-meter-class to retrieve Annie's body out of her titan form. Once it had done so, Eren made it carry her into its jaw to Dina's location, who was still hiding behind the rock where he had left her.

Now that Eren had some time, he looked at the battlefield to search for Bertolt's body, hoping that he hadn't accidentally trampled him in their battle. What he found was his rifle and a lot of blood, leading away in a thick trail. _''Oh no,''_ Eren thought, his senses sharp as he eyed the trail and saw Bertolt sitting a little bit farther ahead. He was conscious again, his healing factor working a lot faster than Eren had anticipated.

His face was screaming bloody murder, a knife in one hand while his other hand was still missing. He'd probably seen how he had defeated Annie and that he brought her body behind the rock, which made Eren assume he knew that he had the founding titan too, as well as that Bertolt was going to do everything in his power to get Annie back.

 _''I can't let you, Bertolt. If you see Dina chances are you know she's important to me somehow. Never mind that you'll probably see her anyway when you transform. You're a big guy, after all.''_

Bertolt's eyes were entirely fixated on Eren's titan form, absolutely seething with anger for what he had done. Behind Eren he could make out Reiner's weakened titan fighting Grisha's to a stalemate. They weren't going anywhere for the time being, which meant there was only one obstacle in his way.

 _''I'll kill you, Eren,''_ he thought murderously, the words dripping with venom. _''Manipulating Annie with false promises, stealing her body so you can harvest the female titan, knocking me out before I can transform—that all ends now!''_ Bertolt cut himself across the cheek, the yellow thunder that appeared from the heavens blinding everybody for a split second.

Furious winds like a hurricane blasted up dust and pebbles everywhere, which made Eren shield his eyes. The loud explosion that followed almost threatened to knock him off of his feet. Steam erupted from Bertolt's location, rising high into the sky like an active volcano ready to explode. For a moment, only the hissing of the steam could be seen or heard, like the calm before the storm.

Then, Bertolt's face appeared from within the steam. High and mighty he looked down upon the earth below. From his point of view he could even see the wall in the far distance. But that wasn't what he was interested in at the moment; he was only interested in Eren and getting back Annie's body. _''Huh,''_ he thought, _''there's another titan behind that rock; a fairly big one. Why is it crouching down like it tries to remain hidden?''_

The first step he took rumbled the earth to its core. Even Grisha and Reiner had stopped fighting for a second to gape at the humongous giant. _''How are we ever going to bring_ that _down_?'' Grisha questioned incredulously. He gave a doubtful glance at his son, who also looked slightly alarmed. It seemed even he was still surprised at how _big_ the colossal titan was, no matter how many times he'd seen it.

While he remained a huge threat, Bertolt's speed was severely limited in his titan form. There was no way he could protect himself properly, especially when the small army of mindless titans Eren had commanded to attack was distracting him too. Bertolt saw the titans closing in on him with a perked brow, seemingly not impressed. _''What's that supposed to do exactly?''_ he thought with a scowl on his face.

Contracting his muscles, he opened up his secretory glands, which emanated a protective layer of boiling hot steam all around him. It withheld him from moving, but it was an easy defense mechanism to burn all the titans who were clinging to his body to a crisp.

Meanwhile, Reiner felt some confidence return back to him at the sight of Bertolt's titan. Grisha turned out to be trickier to take down than he had anticipated. While he didn't possess any hardening abilities like his son did, he made up for that with raw experience and sheer willpower. The blows he dealt were mainly focused on his joints, weakening them whenever he struck one.

However, he had dealt some big damage as well. There was a gaping wound at Grisha's hip courtesy of a well placed kick that had destroyed most of his crista. In turn, Grisha's leg threatened to dislocate with every step he took. Furthermore he'd torn off his left arm completely. It was just a matter of time before it had grown back, he knew, but the same could be said about the strength in his joints. The only worrisome part was his mouth; his armor didn't grow back even though his jaw was starting to reform. It would stay a weak point for the rest of the battle.

Grisha knew this too, who was constantly wracking his brain for a solution to make an end to this battle as soon as possible. His titan was reaching its end; the damage sustained more than he could heal back properly. _''I have to get in close, it's my only shot,''_ he thought. He had held his distance until now because he was afraid Reiner would hit him, and when he did, he hit hard.

Now though, he surprised the armored titan with his sudden dash, his arms stretched out and ready to tackle him. _''Is he going to do the same thing he tried to Annie?''_ Reiner thought, stupefied. He couldn't believe Grisha's desperate approach. He held his arms wide, ready to catch the attack titan in his grasp and then beat the shit out of him.

However, the moment Grisha was about to tackle him, he made a fake-out to the left, completely avoiding Reiner's attempt to grab him. Reiner let out a gasp and hissed in panic when Grisha used the momentum to grab him around his throat and lock his feet around his midsection, using his weight and the force of gravity to bring them both down.

The loud crash of both titans hitting the ground kicked up considerable amounts of dust, and from this position, Grisha had a perfect angle to hit Reiner's weak spot. He roared loudly and brought his fist down on his jaw, easily breaking it one hit.

Reiner's eyes widened at the dangerous situation he was in. He couldn't use his left arm with the way how Grisha was holding him and hitting him, while his right arm was locked firmly in place by his leg, making both of them completely useless. He couldn't get up either with the extra weight clinging to his back. The only thing he could do was lift his upper section of his torso and slam back down, and that's exactly what he did in his desperation.

Grisha continued to punch him repeatedly and in quick succession on his jaw, bone fragments flying everywhere as he felt Reiner lift him up and slam him back down. The massive weight of the titan was quickly threatening to break his spine, which would render his legs useless. If that happened, Reiner would be able to use his arm and then it would be pretty much over for him.

Yet, Grisha felt absolutely confident he was going to win. His punches had completely destroyed Reiner's jaw already. His knuckles weren't faring any better, but that didn't diminish him in the slightest. He kept on hacking away at skin and muscles, blood flying everywhere while Reiner's movements became more stiff, forced and very nervous. He managed to slam down Grisha again, who felt the strength in his legs leaving him. Still, Grisha didn't slow down.

 _''No, please! I can't—''_ Reiner thought in panic, managing to free his right arm from Grisha's leg to try and bring down his elbow on his face in a finishing blow. When Grisha saw the threat of Reiner's elbow looming high above him _—_ like the knife of a guillotine that was about to behead him _—_ he gave one final cry and mustered all the strength he could find to ram his fist against what was left of Reiner's face as hard as he could, completely destroying all of his metacarpals in the process.

The effect was instantaneous. All of Reiner's higher functions seized to cooperate. His raised arm fell harmlessly at his side, the damage Grisha had done knocking him out cold. Grisha let a breath escape his mouth that he didn't know he was holding. He had given everything to defeat Reiner; his titan was as good as useless and out of the battle. The only thing that he could move properly was his right arm while only a stump was left of his fist. He had crushed his fingers into dust hitting Reiner over and over again. _''The rest is up to you, Eren,''_ he thought, eyeing the idle colossus titan who was still using his steam as a shield. For the time being, he was trapped under Reiner and could only spectate.

Bertolt wasn't sure what was happening below him at the moment. One downside of his steam shield was that he couldn't see at all, never mind that he couldn't move either. He was confident he'd dealt with all the mindless titans for the time being though, and so, stopped his steam.

He would immediately regret that decision.

Eren had been patiently waiting behind Bertolt to drop his form of defense. Once he had done so, the access to his heels was free. Wounding his own hand to make a sharp edge out of his radius bone, he'd hardened it to steel and slashed it right through the tendon that connected Bertolt's calf muscles to his calcaneus. A sharp snap _—_ like a thick cord broke _—_ was the result.

Bertolt let out a yelp as his right leg suddenly gave away. He tried to find his balance, only to hear another loud snap in his left leg and felt that one giving away as well. He went down on his knees with a lot of violence, his large frame falling forwards. He tried to soften the blow by extending his hands, but the resulting crash was still spectacular; both Grisha and Reiner were lucky he didn't land on top of them.

 _''What happened?''_ Bertolt babbled to himself incoherently. He tried to push himself back up, which he only succeeded in half; his feet still refused to cooperate, which was very troublesome. He looked around to spot any sign of Reiner, Eren and Grisha. When he couldn't find anybody—largely because of all the dust he had kicked up—he instead focused on what he _could_ see, namely the mysterious titan who was still hiding behind the rock about an arm's length away from him.

From his hands and knees position, he couldn't see the five-meter-class who was carrying Annie around. He couldn't even be sure if that titan still had Annie; the smiling titan behind the rock could just as easily be holding Annie. He had to be careful before smashing everything under that rock with the palm of his hand.

First thing was first, he needed more vision. He reached out to grab the rock like it was a drink from the fridge and pulled, the protesting cracks of the rock giving away under the sheer strength of the colossus titan. Lifting up the rock revealed the smiling titan's full body, crouched down and holding Annie's body protectively on its lap.

 _''Annie!''_ Bertolt thought, relief washing over him. _''You're all right! Don't worry, I'll get you out of there!''_ He reached out to pinch the smiling titan's head between his fingers and squash its head like an overripe fruit, but that's where the titan suddenly reacted and began to run away with Annie in its arms.

 _''No!''_ Bertolt stretched his arm desperately to catch the fleeing titan, but it was already out of his reach. He tried to crawl after it, only to feel a very distinct weight settle on his neck. His eyes widened significantly and his movements stopped.

 _''Forgot about me for a moment?''_ Eren thought victoriously. He knew he had Bertolt checkmate. He wouldn't be fast enough to get him off of his neck and activating his steam would ensure Dina would be able to escape for sure with Annie. No to mention, it would burn away a lot of his muscles; muscles he desperately needed at the moment. Not that it mattered anymore anyway.

Bertolt lowered his head in defeat. _''Reiner, Annie. I'm sorry.''_ In the next moment he could feel the muscles in his neck being torn open forcefully, exposing his human body to the open sky and effectively shutting down his titan.

Eren grabbed Bertolt's body from out of the disintegrating colossus titan, who didn't struggle whatsoever at this point and waited for inevitable death to claim him. Instead, Eren had no such plans with him. He gave Bertolt an apologetic look before knocking him out by shooting a finger against his nose. Eren's whole body relaxed afterwards and for the first time that day, he smiled. _''We did it,''_ he thought, laughing as he lowered himself to the ground. _''We actually did it!''_

He made his way to where his father had defeated Reiner. He had already dismounted his titan and was trying to pull out Reiner's body with little success. Eren chuckled and gave his father a hand. Gently, he ripped Reiner's body free from the armored titan and placed both unconscious bodies of the boys on the ground. Finally, he dismounted his own titan with a big, toothy grin on his face.

Grisha's own smile couldn't be wider as he embraced his son in a firm hug. ''Great job, Eren!'' he praised happily. ''We've got all three of them!''

It was almost surreal, but it was true. Not a single soul would be lost today inside the walls. He and his father had stopped the first lethal threat of Marley with stunning success.

''So, what happens now?'' Grisha asked unsurely. They had the three shifters, but what were they going to do with them? They couldn't just keep them locked in the basement of their home with the hope Mikasa or Carla weren't going to find out. Besides, the moment they found an opportunity to shift, they would take it. Grisha also needed all the space he had available if he wanted to find a way to take away their titans without killing them.

Eren gave him a grin. ''I've thought about that. I know the perfect place to keep the shifters for the time being, and also the right person to keep an eye on them in the meantime.''

* * *

Not very far from Eren's and Grisha's location, a lone girl had finally witnessed the starry night sky consciously again after a very long time. She felt like every breath she took was pure ecstasy, the feeling of just being _alive_ overwhelming her. She couldn't express her gratitude or how lucky she had been that she had run into these warriors of Marley and devoured one of them. While she was repulsed by the idea of killing another human being, it had brought along her salvation. Ymir was finally human again, and it felt _amazing._

It took some time for all of her memories to resurface. She had sacrificed herself for her Eldian followers back in Marley when the police had made a raid on their illegal cult. Her sentence was to wander utopia forever. How selfless she had been. _''But not anymore,''_ she thought. From now on, she would live for herself and nobody else.

That was until she realized she was a long way from home. Her only chance of survival was to reach the wall and take refuge inside, but getting there proofed more difficult than she thought. At the dawn of a new day, while admiring the beauty of the sun coming up in the east, she was rudely interrupted by the familiar sound of a titan shifting in the distance.

 _''The warriors from Marley,''_ she immediately thought, panic taking over her body as she hid herself away. If they found her she was dead meat for sure. She hoped they would go in the direction of the wall, but instead, more titans began to shift and loud roars could be heard, followed by massive clashes that could only indicate they were fighting.

Curiously, Ymir peeked from her hiding spot and looked in the distance at the massive battle that was unfolding. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Like glue, she kept her eyes on the entire battle until she even saw the colossal titan go down and be defeated.

''Who are those guys?'' she whispered to herself. She shook her head; she had to get far away from here before she was found. Preparing to turn around and flee, she was stopped abruptly as she ran into something very sturdy that wasn't there before. Ymir felt her throat tighten while her breathing turned erratic and her hands became cold with sweat. Looking up, she saw the same five-meter-class that had assisted the other two titans in defeating the warriors. All her muscles stiffened as the titan brought both of its hands around her small frame as gently as it could, and then put her on its back. With a scream, he took off in the direction of the two victorious titan shifters.

 _''Oh no! No no no no no!''_ Ymir thought anxiously. _''I'm busted. They'll think I'm one of them and then kill me!''_ She tried to struggle, but her captor was a lot stronger. Had she known how to shift she would've done so, but since she had no idea how it worked or if she could even do it, that wasn't even an option that rose in her mind.

She was shivering like a log when she finally could make out the faces of the two humans who had captured her. She was surprised one of them was around the same age as she was, if you didn't count the years she had spent as a mindless titan. Gently, the five-meter-class put her down in front of them until the boy took a step forward and smiled slightly.

''I can imagine this must be a nerve-racking experience for you, but you don't have to worry, Ymir. We're your allies, not your enemies,'' he reassured.

Ymir gasped. He knew her name, but that couldn't be possible; she had been a mindless titan for so long! ''Who are you?'' she questioned, stammering slightly.

''My name's Eren Yeager and this is my father Grisha Yeager,'' Eren introduced kindly. ''I'm glad you're doing well. I'm sure that after sixty years of wandering around in an endless nightmare you must feel blessed to feel the sun warming your skin once more.''

Ymir tried to even her breathing, but this Eren Yeager knew so much about her that it almost seemed like they were old friends. She wanted to scowl and give him a cold, indifferent reply, but she was too emotional at the moment to even find the right words. ''I—yes, I do,'' she admitted, almost whispering.

Eren nodded, his smile widening at Ymir's answer. ''Good. I understand you're confused right now, as you probably have no idea what's going on. But don't worry; I'll explain everything along the way to the wall. The most important thing right now is that my father and I can offer you a new life, entirely free from Marley,'' he promised.

That grabbed Ymir's attention. She looked up at Eren if she could find any insincerity, but there was absolutely none. ''You really mean that,'' she responded, like she couldn't believe it. ''But why me?''

''Because we need your help, Ymir,'' Eren said seriously, ''you know things about Marley nobody else inside the walls knows. Besides, you've got the jaw titan right now. You'd make a great addition to our team.''

Ymir looked confused. ''What do you want me to do then?''

Eren gave her a reassuring glance. ''Let's get out of here first. Like I promised, I'll explain everything to you on the way.''

* * *

 **And there you have it, people! Did you guys like it, love it, hate it? Review please! Next chapter the aftermath of the battle. Until then. ^^**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


	4. Tell a friend

**Just in time, guys! Here I am with chapter four. Thank you so much for the massive support I've gotten so far. I hope you'll enjoy! :D PS: planning this story is kinda hard. Since the manga is still running, I've to change things on the fly. Anybody who has read chapter 107 will know what I'm talking about.**

* * *

 **~Seira: I love your plot and I really hope you continue this story cause it's amazing!**

 **Thank you! I definitely will. :3**

* * *

''Titans!'' Speech

 _''Titans!''_ Thoughts

* * *

For some reason, Eren was more nervous than he would've imagined. He and his father had done the most difficult part of their mission already, so why was facing Annie, Reiner and Bertolt in a normal conversation almost impossible for him? Eren shook his head. He had to be convincing if he wanted to succeed. At the moment, he was standing in front of the three shifters who were all still unconscious.

Ymir was standing next to him, a sliver of concern showing on her face. He had told her everything she needed to know when they'd traveled back to wall Maria. Needless to say, she had needed a moment to process everything, never mind that she had a bit of trouble believing it all. But like Eren had expected, she was alone and scared, and thus decided to trust him for the time being. He just had to keep treating her with respect to make that trust grow.

''It's going to be all right,'' Eren said to himself more than to Ymir, but she still responded hesitantly.

''Are you sure I'm the right person for this? I just ate one of their friends after all.'' Her concern hadn't diminished in the slightest, even though all three warriors were tied up and weren't able to shift into their titan forms.

''It'll be for a little while, at least until my father has found a way to extract their powers without killing them. Besides, you're the only person who knows about Marley inside these walls beside the royal family. And I can't leave them behind without any supervision either.'' Eren paused as he looked around the plain room they were in. Honestly, he couldn't have wished for a better spot to keep the three shifters until he had convinced them to join his cause.

They were exactly twenty-five meters up and around two meters inside wall Maria. Eren smiled as he reminisced about the fact the wall was actually hollow at some points from the inside. _''Looks like the hiding spot you used against us is going to be your temporary prison for now, Reiner and Bertolt,''_ he thought, nodding in satisfaction. The room was fairly large with enough space to walk around. Eren had provided enough food and water for Ymir—who was going to keep an eye on the three shifters—and the three shifters themselves to last a few days.

Plenty of oxygen streamed into the multiple vents, and there was even a spot to go outside to get a breathtaking view of the island and all the mindless titans roaming around. Eren nodded in satisfaction and then eyed Ymir again. ''I'll come back tonight to check up on you,'' he promised, ''and then I'll slowly teach you how to shift and use the jaw titan effectively. If one of the warriors manages to break free—which I doubt—don't hesitate to kill him or her. You'll be able to shift while they don't. At least, not immediately. Be merciless. One life doesn't equal thousands of others.''

Ymir nodded, although she wasn't sure she was able to do it if it ever came to that. Eren probably knew, because he had built this room cleverly. Annie, Reiner and Bertolt were all tied up separately; not far away enough so they couldn't see each other, but they weren't able to reach. Likewise, a line on the ground indicated the distance the warriors could walk forward and thus effectively reach with their legs. As long as Ymir didn't cross it she would be fine.

There were no sharp edges or objects in the room to break free from the restraints, neither a way for them to shift. They were trapped in such a way that they were unable to leave, but not unable to move around.

''So, what will you do now?'' Ymir asked Eren curiously. She was still amazed he was able to stop such a destructive threat before it could've happened. It made his story that he was from the future all the more believable.

''I'm going to wait until they wake up and try to knock some sense into them,'' he responded seriously. ''We're all Eldians. I don't want to kill three innocent children who've been brainwashed by Marley just because they don't know any better. Hopefully, they'll understand sooner than later.'' He pointed at the female titan in the room. ''Particularly Annie was intrigued by my offer. With a bit of luck, I'll have her convinced by the end of today.''

''And what if it's a trick?'' Ymir whispered back. ''What if they say they want to join you just so they'll be free and wreak havoc anyway?''

''I know all three of these people very well,'' he responded, ''Annie will be the first to give in. Not only doesn't she believe a word what Marley is saying, but she also knows I'm telling the truth and can possibly give her what she truly wants. Besides, I need a way to bring back Dina—'' Eren motioned with his hands to refer to the smiling titan. ''—so the payment of joining me is giving up her powers. If she's willing to do that, I know I can trust her. The boys are going to need more time, but once Reiner is convinced, Bertolt will follow quickly afterwards no problem.''

Ymir was pretty impressed. ''You really thought about this, didn't you?'' she said in amazement. ''You really want to restore Eldia back to its long lost glory without losing a single soul.''

Eren nodded silently. ''We've been suppressed long enough. Too many lives of Eldians were lost. Marley is going to pay for what they did; but not in the same way we've been paying. When Paradis is titan free and I've gotten rid of all the corrupt politicians around here, we'll claim Marley and make it a peaceful country were Eldians and Marleyans will learn to live as one. It's going to take some time, but we'll take it slowly. The world will learn we're not devils, and once everything is set and done, the power of the titans will be no more. They'll be destroyed, never to be used again. I'm going to personally make sure of that.''

Ymir smiled, but then gasped when she saw Reiner stir. Sure enough, he began to open his eyes groggily. Eren stiffened a bit, but held his friendly composure. Reiner looked around in confusion and groaned; he'd taken quite some damage before the lights went out, so Eren assumed his healing joints were pretty sore. It took a moment before his eyes set on Eren and they widened in recognition. Fear, panic and anger all set in at once.

Eren could see these powerful emotions swirl in Reiner's eyes. The armored titan suppressed a growl and tried to stand up, only to stumble and fall back down; a combination of him being tied up and his joints not working fully yet. He lowered his head in defeat and refused to open his mouth for the time being.

Likewise, Eren wasn't making a move yet either. He waited patiently until Bertolt and Annie had woken up too. It didn't take long before Bertolt's eyes had flicked open with a big gasp as well, like he had been holding his breath for too long. He panted while his eyes only displayed pure terror. Apparently, he hadn't been dreaming pleasant.

When he saw Eren standing there, however, only anger was present in his face. ''You,'' he said lowly, ''I'll kill you. I'll kill you until there's nothing left!''

It was odd how much Bertolt reminded him of himself when he was younger. It made Eren pity him. It wasn't too late yet to change his mind; it would just take a lot of patience on his end, Eren was sure of it.

Bertolt continued to make empty threats while he struggled furiously against his binds. Reiner ignored his best friend and continued to keep his head turned low. Both looked utterly broken.

Finally, Annie reached the land of the conscious as the final member of the group. She didn't make a sound whatsoever; it was like she had been wide awake for a while now when she opened her eyes. Most notably, she didn't display any resentment whatsoever when she locked her eyes with Eren. He only saw utter sadness and bitterness; she probably thought she'd blown her chance with him when she helped out her friends in battle.

Eren was silent for a little while longer before he cleared his throat. A friendly smile appeared on his face. ''I apologize for the rough treatment and the condition you are all in,'' he began kindly. ''I hope you understand I can't have you guys shifting and still destroying wall Maria.'' He paused and eyed each warrior individually. ''How are you feeling? Is there anything I can get you?''

Bertolt had shut his mouth, his face murderous while low growls came out of his throat. He was like a wounded animal, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't somewhat surprised at how Eren was talking to them.

Reiner had lifted his head, the tears that had threatened to roll down his cheeks having stopped as his face displayed utter confusion.

The only one who didn't seem surprised was Annie. Instead, a sliver of hope appeared in her eyes. That was a very good sign for Eren; one he hoped that would grow.

He continued when none answered—understandably so. ''I'm afraid this is where you'll be staying for the time being, but don't fret. Ymir here,'' he pointed at the female standing next to him, who stiffened considerably, ''will keep you company in my absence.''

''Where is here?'' Reiner whispered. His voice had lost all of its power; he'd accepted very quickly that they had failed and that he was a prisoner now.

''We're inside wall Maria,'' Eren answered honestly. ''It's the only place where I can keep you safely so no harm will be done to you.''

Bertolt let out a cynical laugh. ''No harm?'' he hissed. ''You devils have probably planned to torture us so we'll spill every bit of information you can use against Marley. It's the only reason why you haven't killed us yet, isn't it?'' he spat, demanding Eren that he would tell the truth.

Eren shook his head. ''No, Bertolt. Why would I torture you when I already know everything that's going to happen? I knew about your arrival, did I not?''

He grumbled, but couldn't find a counterargument to that. He wanted to shout that the information of their arrival was leaked somehow, but Marley had been utmost careful. Moreover, Eren and his father _both_ had the attack titan on top of Eren having the founding titan too. It just didn't make any sense.

''Eren,'' Annie called, her curiosity piqued by his last statement. ''Can I ask how it's possible for you to know everything?'' Her eyes were back to that analytical gaze he was so used of her. She was calculating every move he made; trying to find the least bit of dishonesty if she could.

Eren slowly nodded his head. He'd thought this over carefully, but feeding his potential allies lies wasn't the way to go about things, especially if he wanted them to trust him. ''It's because I'm from the future,'' he explained simply.

Bertolt snorted loudly. ''You want us to believe such obvious lies? We're not gullible!'' he yelled, his anger flaring up again. ''You're trying to brainwash us, aren't you? So you can use us against Marley! We'll never let that—''

''He's telling the truth,'' Annie interrupted him, effectively shutting him up. Bertolt was gawking at her incredulously and even Reiner gasped in shock.

''Annie?'' Reiner whispered, ''what are you saying?''

If she was completely honest with herself, she didn't know why she would believe such a ridiculous statement either, but for some reason, it just fit. His knowledge, the two attack titans, the fact he knew her fighting style even though they'd never met and his experience in controlling the founding titan like he'd done it for years all would be explained this way. Eren was being dead serious about it too, so he was either crazy and believing his own lies or being extremely honest—especially the latter told her Eren had no ill intention with them at all. If anything, it gave her even more hope his offer would somehow still stand.

''I know what I'm saying, Reiner,'' she concluded finally. ''Marley has always been full of shit. Maybe you don't believe that yet, but I'm not easily fooled. What Eren is saying is the craziest story I've ever heard, but I believe him based on what I've seen so far.''

Bertolt guffawed, a breathless laugh escaping his mouth. ''Marley full of shit?'' he repeated, like he couldn't believe that had come out of Annie's mouth. ''You're crazy! We've been tasked with such an important mission. The trust Marley has put on our shoulders pierces the sky! They gave us—mere Eldians—a chance to become honorary Marleyans if we succeed! Do you believe that's all a lie!?''

''It's based on false pretenses,'' she whispered back, the things she'd thought for so long finally leaving her mouth. ''Even if we become honorary Marleyans, people will not look at us differently.''

Bertolt's jaw threatened to drop, his body refusing to feel the treacherous hate that welled up for Annie. Reiner, in the meantime, chuckled while sweat started to accumulate on his forehead. That'd normally happen to Bertolt, but the same feeling of anxiety he felt on the battlefield a few hours prior overwhelmed him again. It was the fear of losing Annie.

''So what?'' he said, some of his willpower returning through his desperation. ''We should just believe this devil then? And then what?''

Annie looked back at Eren hopefully, who nodded his head in confirmation. ''My offer still stands. I require your help in changing some crucial things around here. With your power backing me up, I'm certain I'll succeed. You'll help restore the _real_ glory of the Eldian race, as well as help me spread the real story of Eldia and Marley.'' Eren paused and then reached out his hand like a guardian angel. ''Please, let me help you.''

For the second time in his entire life, Eren saw a small smile creep up Annie's face. It was as rare as a harvest moon, but twice as beautiful. He knew he had Annie convinced then and there.

''Pretend for a moment that I accept your offer, Eren,'' Annie said, her voice trying to remain stoic but unable to hide a hint of excitement, ''Will you just let me go?''

''I will, but on one condition,'' Eren responded, his nervousness building again. This was going to decide whether or not he would have a very strong ally at his side and be able to bring back Dina again. ''You'll have to give up your titan powers. Not only out of a precaution, but also because I'm trying to bring back a very important person of royal blood.''

Alarm bells went off in Annie's head immediately, her excitement dwindling down to her usual stoic expression. ''Don't believe him, Annie,'' Reiner yelled just for good measure, ''this is obviously a trick!''

''I understand it sounds like a trick, but please think about it,'' Eren begged. ''What do I possibly gain by getting the titan powers out of you willingly as opposed to killing you?''

Again, Annie saw or heard no dishonesty coming from Eren, which frustrated her a little. Giving up her powers was the last thing she would do, and the question remained how Eren was going to get them out without killing her.

When she stayed silent, Eren nodded his head. ''Please give it some thought. I'll be back tonight. In the meantime, you guys can get acquainted with Ymir.'' He gave her a reassuring pat on her back as he made his leave. He saw how her mind was full with uncertainties, but he trusted she'd do well and get acclimated in no time. Ymir was a strong woman, after all.

* * *

Once Eren had finally reached his home, the morning had made place for the afternoon. The sun was harsh on his face and neck, but he knew that Mikasa was going to be a lot harsher. His mom was doing the laundry outside, humming a happy tune while his father had locked himself up in his basement. He'd given his father all the info he knew about how the power of the titans worked. Now it was up to him to find some sort of solution.

''Hi mom, I'm back!'' Eren called out happily.

Carla turned around and smiled. ''Hi, sweetie,'' she greeted back, the relief in her voice almost unnoticeable. She was a pro at hiding her worry, something that wasn't unjustified in this situation; both she and Mikasa knew that whatever they had done was something very dangerous. ''I'm glad you're back! Lunch is almost ready. You can help out Mikasa if you'd like?''

He'd rather not even though he loved her with every fiber of his being. Facing her wrath—no matter what age she was—was always a scary experience. He knew how to deal with it, obviously, but if he could avoid it, he would do so. Unfortunately, he had to face her sometime.

''Sure, mom! I'll go help her out!'' Eren made his way into his home until he'd reached the kitchen. There, Mikasa was already busy setting the table with various sandwiches, fruits and drinks she'd made. Her eyes lit up for a moment when she saw that Eren was completely fine, but then scoffed and continued her job without so much of a greeting.

''Hi, Mikasa,'' Eren greeted her anyway. He knew the best way to approach the situation was to talk about it immediately rather than avoiding eye-contact or pretending nothing was wrong whatsoever. ''I'm sorry if I made you worry,'' he apologized, getting the necessary cutlery and glasses to go along with the food and drinks. ''I understand that you're mad at me and I deserve that wholeheartedly. I just hope you can forgive me.''

Mikasa stopped what she was doing and looked him in the eyes. ''Eren,'' she said sternly, ''what's gotten into you? Ever since last night you haven't been acting like your usual rash self. You almost seem like a different person!''

Her concern was logical. Eren didn't deny the fact he'd changed a lot; everybody did when they grew up. It must be worrisome for Mikasa seeing him so differently. ''That's because I have,'' he admitted to her. ''Honestly, it has been very hectic for me too.'' He laughed awkwardly while shaking his head. ''I've got so much on my head that I feel it's going to spin and make me dizzy.''

Mikasa's gaze softened and her hand found his shoulder supportively, almost lovingly the way how she would often do when they were older and had started a romantic relationship. ''Eren, please tell me what's going on,'' she begged. ''I don't understand. Your dad wouldn't tell me a single word either and hasn't come out of his basement the moment he returned.''

It was the utter powerlessness in her voice that Eren wanted to console her. One of the most important things in her life was being able to protect him no matter what, but now, so suddenly, something was threatening it and she didn't have the slightest clue who or what it was. It made her feel tiny and scared.

Eren hugged her closely, which she reciprocated by letting her head rest on his shoulder with a slight sniffle. ''I promise to tell you everything tonight, all right? Now is not the right time. Please tell mom as well. You both have every right to know what's going on, and dad and I will explain, but it's not going to be easy to believe.''

''I'll believe anything you'll say to me,'' she replied stubbornly, secretly enjoying Eren's affections a little more than she would've cared to admit.

Eren smiled and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek, which made her gasp while the cutest blush formed on her face. She was simply too adorable. ''How about after lunch we meet up with Armin and go on an adventure?''

Eren remembered whenever they hung out he would call it 'going on an adventure.' They'd often pretend they were outside the walls, exploring the world and its many different environments they only ever read about in books, but never knew were real or not. He missed those days and it was a great way to ease his mind a bit.

Mikasa gently nodded her head in agreement, feeling a lot better with herself knowing that Eren was going to tell what was going on tonight. Her worries ebbed away little by little. That kind smile of his was so addictive; it gave her a funny feeling whenever he flashed it at her and it made her want to hug the scarf he gave her like a big teddy bear.

She suppressed those urges and instead continued to set the table in preparation for lunch, wondering what Eren was going to tell her that possibly wouldn't make her believe was he said. _''Oh, hey, Mikasa!_ _My_ _dad and I are actually titans in disguise.''_ She giggled inwardly at those thoughts, having no idea how accurate her guess truly was.

* * *

Eren had joined his father in the basement after he'd returned from hanging out with Armin and Mikasa. Lunch was delicious and so nostalgic that Eren had trouble keeping it together for a few times, not to mention, just running around in the meadows of his youth with Armin and Mikasa. Now that he had emptied his mind, he was aiding his father however he could while recounting his conversation with the three shifters.

''I see,'' his father mused, ''so we have a chance that Annie will actually help us out? That's incredible!'' He was genuinely happy, but it was hard to show it when his mind was busy finding a way to extract the power of the titans without killing the host. He had made some good progress already with Eren's help, but didn't have anything solid working yet.

''It is,'' Eren agreed. ''She's not only a very capable fighter, but she'll also be our ticket to bringing Dina back.''

''Speaking of Dina,'' Grisha said. ''How is she doing? Have you checked up on her?''

''I did when I left the three shifters in the care of Ymir. She's doing well as I expected,'' Eren responded. They had left the smiling titan outside the wall with the order to remain where she was until Eren had told her otherwise. She complied effortlessly, but just to be sure, Eren had built a protective wall all around her which she couldn't escape from and ensured any other wandering titans couldn't hurt her either. She'd stay there until they had the female titan, and with a bit of luck on both ends, that would be by tonight.

''I promised Mikasa I was going to tell her what was going on tonight—mom too,'' he added. ''Which means I need your help in explaining.''

Grisha grunted, rubbing his temple tiredly. ''She forced you to tell, didn't she?'' he mumbled while continuing to recalculate the formulas he'd used.

Eren smiled. ''Sorta. She has a way to convince me. Maybe it's because I married her,'' he admitted.

This time, Grisha laughed. ''Why am I not surprised by this? That girl had a crush on you the moment you wrapped that scarf around her neck. Curiously, when did you finally figure that out?'' he teased his son, knowing how oblivious he could be.

This time, Eren blushed a bit in embarrassment while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. ''Too late; way too late, dad,'' he confessed. ''It was so obvious in hindsight, but I'm ashamed to say it wasn't the most important thing in my life at that moment, so I never took much notice in it.''

''You've got that from me,'' Grisha responded with a big smile. ''How women like Dina or Carla even took notice in me, I'll never understand.''

Both father and son laughed at that. Sometimes, the biggest mystery on earth weren't the titans, but the women instead.

''I do plan on telling them everything, though,'' Eren continued seriously. ''I want to get this over with as soon as possible.''

Grisha grumbled, but nodded his head in agreement anyway. ''That'll be for the best.'' He gave his son another smile. ''It's getting time to prepare dinner. Go help your mom and Mikasa. I'll finish things up here. I should have something ready later tonight. I can't guarantee it'll be stable or if it will even work, but it's the only chance we've got.''

''I know, dad. But you know what?'' Eren said confidently, ''For some reason, I don't doubt for a second it's not going to work.'' He couldn't explain why, but it was a gut-feeling, like something inside him told him it was going to be all right.

''The scariest part is that I've got the same feeling,'' Grisha replied. ''It's the same feeling that made me believe you were from the future and why I went along with your crazy plan. So far, it has worked out, so I'm not going to question it.''

 _''Maybe it's the curse of Ymir?''_ Eren thought as he made his way upstairs while his father continued to wrap things up before dinner was ready. Whatever it was, it gave Eren the resolve to go on, which was all that he needed.

* * *

 **That's it for now, people! Did you like it, love it, hate it? Please review! I love to read your thoughts and respond to them! :D Next chapter in three weeks from now. Until then. ^^**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


	5. The curse is strong in this one

**Chapter 5 is here, people. Thank you guys again for the massive support on this fic so far! :D I hope you'll enjoy!**

* * *

 **~Misuri Hitchako: I feel like I've been left hanging. I need more. Four chapters isn't enough to satisfy this fanfiction reading.**

 **I agree. So here is the new chapter for you to enjoy.**

 **~Guest: Great story.**

 **Thank you!**

 **~lavamob102gmail: Can you continue this book please?**

 **Yes, I can, and I will.**

 **~Guest: Love it! Keep bringing it!**

 **Glad you are, and absolutely!**

* * *

''Titans!'' Speech

 _''Titans!''_ Thoughts

* * *

Grisha's basement was dark except for a few candles flickering their light here and there. The air smelled of sweat, sawdust and alcohol. Inside, both father and son looked at the concoction he'd created. It was a light purple in color and completely odorless. Eren glanced at his father nervously, who was sweating profusely. Despite their gut-feeling earlier, they started to have second doubts.

''Remind me again how this works?'' Eren asked his father, his hands as cold as his back at the moment. To be honest, he was more afraid of this potion failing than he had been facing Annie, Reiner and Bertolt.

''Well,'' Grisha said dryly, swallowing to get some saliva back in his throat. ''Based on what you've told me and what I've found out, the power of the titans mixes with the spinal fluid of the host which goes all the way to the basal ganglia of the cerebral cortex. It connects itself with the bigger proteins which are basically the brain's building blocks to restore itself and make new connections with the billions of neurons inside.

''This potion,'' Grisha continued, ''will break down those connections and concentrate the power of the titans on the lower spine, around L2-L3, which then could easily be removed with a clean syringe. Since the power of the titans is denser, it should theoretically be possible, but since you're destroying neurons inside the brain, I don't know if the effect will be similar to a stroke, which may leave me with hemiplegia or even kill me.''

Grisha eyed Eren worriedly. ''Never mind the other hundreds of things that could possibly go wrong. But, it's the only thing I could make on such a short notice. My time is almost up anyway. If this works, I'll lose my attack titan—but I'll also lose the curse of Ymir. It just means I can't receive another titan for the rest of my life.''

Eren knew the consequences all too well. It wasn't like they had much choice in the matter anyway. ''All right,'' he said, breathing in loudly. ''Let's do this then.''

Grisha nodded and took off his dress shirt, leaving his upper body exposed to the syringe he had filled with the purple liquid. Wordlessly, he handed his son the syringe and turned his back to him. ''You have to shoot it directly into my spine, around C7,'' Grisha explained while bending his neck. ''Do you see the most prominent protruding spine from my neck area? That's C6. Palpate it and then go down. Make sure you make good difference between the two to locate C7 correctly.''

Eren did as he was told, double-checking to make sure he had the correct spine between his fingers. ''I got it,'' he said resolutely.

Based on where Eren was palpating, Grisha had to agree. ''Now comes the hardest part. You have to stick the needle between the two spines and go around two centimeters deep. Then inject the fluid upwards. Be sure to clean my skin first with some alcohol and make sure no air is in the syringe,'' his father advised him.

Eren grabbed some soft cotton and dipped it into a bit of alcohol to clean his father's skin. Next, he pressed a little bit on the syringe to let some fluid escape, which ensured there was no air left in it. ''All right, dad, here I go,'' Eren stated, slowly bringing the needle to his father's skin. Oddly enough, Eren's hands weren't shaking even though he was incredibly nervous right now; it was like they were made of steel. He stuck the needle inside his father spine and slowly pushed it deeper to what he guessed to be around two centimeters. Not thinking twice, he shot the purple liquid inside and then retracted the needle. He watched his father expectantly, who didn't react very much yet, until his whole spine began to glow purple.

The sudden muscle spasms from Grisha and his painful hissing had Eren's pulse speeding up considerably. He watched with growing worry as his father thrashed about, grunting and groaning while his spine continued to glow purple.

After five minutes of this, Eren was afraid he might not make it after all, but then the spasms slowly began to cease until only his panting remained. ''Dad! Are you okay?'' he yelled a bit too loudly. He watched how his father turned his head and groaned painfully.

''That… was not pleasant whatsoever,'' he grumbled. He felt like he'd run a marathon backwards. His head was throbbing and he felt lightheaded and weak.

''Did it work?'' Eren asked, not sure based on what he had seen.

''Only one way to find out,'' his father responded. With some help from Eren, he was able to turn around on his stomach. He gave the same directions on how Eren had to stick a clean syringe in his lower back like he'd done in his neck. This one had to go a little bit deeper, and with some effort, Eren filled it up with a clear liquid straight from Grisha's spine. ''This is _it,_ '' he whispered, his smile contagious as he eyed his father! ''This is it! We did it!''

''Now hold on,'' his father said before celebrating with him, gently getting into a sitting position. ''I have to look at it first. It might just as well be normal spinal fluid.'' Though it definitely looked different than normal spinal fluid, Grisha wanted to be sure just in case.

''How long will that take you?'' Eren asked curiously. He had promised to meet up with Ymir soon, and the sooner he knew it worked, the sooner he could take it with him. After all, if Annie agreed to his proposition, they could get Dina back today.

''Hold on,'' Grisha grunted, ''the side effects are pretty disorientating. I need some time until I feel better. But I'm sure it will not take me no longer than thirty minutes to be sure.'' Grisha smiled. ''If this is it, then we've effectively shut down the curse of Ymir!''

Eren almost couldn't believe it. He idly wondered why they had been so lucky. He believed it was partly because of his knowledge on the subject and partly because of his father's incredible intellect, yet he knew that wouldn't have been enough to figure it out so soon. It was almost if the curse itself had been helping them out.

Shaking his head, Eren patiently waited until his father had found some strength in his limbs again to test the fluids they'd extracted.

* * *

As it turned out, they'd successfully removed Grisha's attack titan from his body. Eren was ecstatic with the news; as was his father. It meant they'd saved him, and they were capable of saving Dina too!

Right now, Eren was practicing with Ymir how to control the jaw titan. He hadn't met up with the shifters yet, but Ymir told him they were doing okay, albeit that they had a bit of a falling out over some heated arguments. Eren could make an estimated guess what those were about.

''That's good, Ymir, you're doing great,'' Eren praised her while she was getting used to her new body. Apparently, she hadn't much trouble with the shifting part as he had in the past, but rather with controlling her actions consciously. Even though she spent the last sixty years in that form, the actions were all unconscious.

 _''It's funny to notice how implicit actions are rather easy for her, while explicit actions are a lot harder,''_ he thought. As a highly trained soldier, Eren was pretty experienced in giving different exercises and also knowledgeable on different training methods in controlling one's body.

''All right, Ymir, rather than reaching out with your arms, why don't you give me a hand?'' Eren emphasized the action by offering his own hand. Ymir immediately responded and reached out her arm with stunning success, much to her shock.

 _''I did it!''_ she thought happily. It was frustrating if your body didn't listen to your commands. Bit by bit, however, her movements started to come out more controlled.

''There you go!'' Eren was amazed at her progress already, ''but don't let us get carried away now. How about we call it a day and practice some more tomorrow?''

Ymir nodded at that and exited her titan, unable to keep a smirk from her face. ''Did you see that? I think I'm starting to get the hang of it!'' She was visibly excited, and with good reason too. Guarding three shifters most of the day when you actually didn't know how to shift yourself if something went wrong was pretty scary. Ymir didn't dare tell them she was the one who ate their friend on top of that.

''You certainly are! I'm proud of you! In a few weeks you'll be ready to help me with my next mission of changing some politics around here,'' Eren said in satisfaction.

Ymir nodded, albeit reluctantly. She wasn't that confident in her skills yet, especially when she'd seen most of Eren's battle with his dad against the warriors of Marley. Luckily, Eren had promised she was there purely for back-up and intimidation factor. Guns wouldn't harm them, and canon blasts would be focused on him, which he could easily block if he hardened his fists. It'd be another confrontation where they'd try to reason first before using violence. Ymir had the growing suspicion the original founding titan holder wasn't going to listen.

''Ymir?'' Eren said. ''I'd like to see the three shifters now. Could you please give me a moment of privacy with them?

''Oh, of course!'' she responded. Ymir wanted to hug him out of appreciation for everything he'd done for her so far, but hesitated, which Eren thought was pretty adorable for a lady he knew that was as hard as steel. Still, her behavior wasn't anything strange. All the people he'd known for so long were a lot younger; merely children becoming young teenagers. He had to admit himself his body was making him _feel_ like he truly was not older than twelve years.

The smile on Eren's face was contagious, though. Ymir couldn't help but blush a bit and smile back. He grabbed her hand and pulled her in a soft hug, which she now had no trouble reciprocating. ''Thank you,'' Eren said gently.

''No, thank _you,_ '' she whispered back, her voice smooth and loving. ''You're giving me a new chance at life.''

''Anything for an old friend, Ymir,'' he responded with a grin. This made her smile widen significantly, the corners of her lips trembling with contained laughter. ''It's still odd to think you're from the future,'' she admitted, amusement written all over her face.

''Honestly, I have moments that I think this is all a big dream,'' he admitted. _''And that I'm really dead and this is the afterlife,''_ he added somberly, but didn't think that out loud. Shaking his head, he let go of Ymir. ''Anyway, I'll be with Annie, Reiner and Bertolt if you need me.''

She nodded and waved him goodbye while Eren made his way through the labyrinth of tunnels inside wall Maria to reach the fairly big room where the warriors of Marley were being held prison at the moment.

When he entered, all three shifters were sitting down on the cushions he'd provided, idly minding their own business. They were acclimating a little, it seemed, which was good. ''Good evening, Bertolt, Reiner and Annie,'' he greeted them kindly. ''I hope Ymir has treated you well.''

''She has, Eren, thank you,'' Annie replied without hesitation, which elicited a little growl from Bertolt and utter silence from Reiner.

''I'm glad to hear that.'' He nodded his head. ''Is there anything I can get you guys to make it more comfortable here? I've brought a plethora of books with me that you can read,'' he offered them.

Bertolt muttered something under his breath while Reiner nodded solemnly. ''Actually,'' Annie said, her voice resolute, ''there's something I want to tell you, Eren.''

''Oh? Have you thought about my offer?'' he said, his excitement and curiosity growing exponentially.

Annie nodded her head. ''I'm ready to join you in your cause. If you want to take away my titan—though I'm not sure how you'll accomplish that—then go ahead.'' Her answer was loud and clear, probably on purpose because both Reiner and Bertolt refused to look at her. She had, in fact, thought about it all afternoon, much to the growing frustration of both Reiner and Bertolt. They'd tried everything in their power to talk her out of it, but in the end, her mind was set.

She knew they'd see her as a traitor, that much was obvious, but with due time, she realized they would probably come to understand her and maybe even admit she was right all along. After all, she saw the doubts in both Reiner's and Bertolt's resolve that Marley was perfect when she'd easily countered all their arguments.

More importantly, however, was that she _knew_ if she joined Eren's team she could accomplish what she truly wanted; a normal life with her father.

Eren at the moment couldn't be more ecstatic. It was like all the pieces of the puzzle were slowly falling in their place. The timing couldn't have been more perfect and he bowed deeply. ''Thank you, Annie. I promise you won't ever regret placing your trust in me.''

She nodded her head and walked forwards as far as her binds allowed her to. ''What will you do now, Eren?'' she questioned him. She doubted he was just going to let her go, especially since she still had her titan and could potentially shift into it if she wanted.

However, Eren surprised her by actually getting into her reach. He slowly started to loosen her limbs, his eyes bearing nothing but pure trust as he was doing his job. She gasped; her body tense as she could move her hands again. All the while, he was meticulously removing the rest of her binds, completely vulnerable to her, but she never even thought of attacking him.

When he was done, he moved back and offered her his hand. ''You're free now. Please come with me so we can remove your titan, Annie,'' Eren spoke kindly.

The amount of trust he put in her was insane, so much so that even Reiner and Bertolt were surprised at how crazy the scene looked. Annie smiled inwardly. _''Eren. You are the real deal, aren't you?''_ She took his hand without hesitation and walked after him into another room, where Eren motioned for her to sit down on a simple wooden stool he'd placed there.

She complied as Eren explained to her what was going to happen. He'd rather have it done by his dad, but he was still way too weak to do such a procedure. Since Annie was still a kid and also female, his father had warned him not to use the same amount he'd used on him, as that might prove to be fatal to her. The last thing he wanted was to kill Annie now.

When he was done explaining, she offered him her back, so Eren could start the process of removing her titan.

* * *

''So this is Dina, the woman with royal blood?'' Annie asked as she watched the smiling titan who was idly starring up at the sky. Eren had removed her female titan with stunning success. At the moment, she was way too weak to walk herself, so Ymir was supporting her. Eren had insisted that she should take it easy and rest, but Annie was persistent and wanted to meet the woman who was going to inherit her powers.

''She's also my stepmother,'' Eren added jovially, ''and Zeke's mother.'' Especially when he revealed that last part, Annie seemed surprised.

''Who's Zeke?'' Ymir asked, not being familiar with the name. He apparently was somebody important and also Eren's half-brother to boot, but in what way he was important, she had no idea.

''He's the current beast titan,'' Annie responded, ''and also my supervisor,'' she added and then paused. ''Well, he was my supervisor, now I'm not really sure anymore,'' she admitted with a shrug. ''But I'm sure you knew this already, Eren?''

He nodded his head. ''I know who's holding the cart and war hammer titans too. Besides that I also know all the intricacies of both Paradis' and Marley's political structures. I won't be the right person to change those, but I've already gotten a few names in my head who could possibly aid me with that.'' He shook his head. ''Anyway, you don't have to worry about Zeke right now, Ymir. He's scheduled to come around in two years or so,'' he then gave Annie a winning smirk, ''and, with a bit of luck, you'll be _his_ supervisor when the time comes around.''

Annie perked a brow, but couldn't deny that the thought sounded very appealing in her mind. ''You want to recruit Zeke too?'' She was kind of amazed at the lengths Eren was willing to take to accomplish his goal.

''I do and I will. I already accomplished that feat once. Never were able to recruit you guys, though,'' he revealed and left it at that. ''Anyway, Dina's the reason I was able to control all those mindless titans in our battle. Having the founding titan in combination with somebody of royal blood nearby gives me that feat. This makes her immensely valuable. And since I've never met my stepmom personally, this is kinda exciting for me too,'' Eren admitted somewhat sheepishly.

With no effort, that familiar yellow thunder crackled all around Eren's body and made the smiling titan move. She reached out to the vial which contained the female titan and brought it to her mouth to swallow it whole. At first, nothing happened since the vial needed to be digested first, but when that eventually had happened, the smiling titan gave a soundless scream and began to shrink in size.

Bones, muscles and connective tissues were being dissolved into nothing until only a petite woman remained were the smiling titan once had stood. She was lying on her side in the fetus position. She had beautiful blonde hair and a fair skin; Eren guessed her to be around 5'2''.

She fluttered her eyes open daintily, like she was waking up from a long slumber. In some sense, that was pretty true. Her eyes adjusted to the limited light the outside world provided to her. It had become pretty dark already, so she could only make out silhouettes, which made her panic and thrash about as she tried to control her muscles in fleeing.

She didn't get very far, because her muscles simply didn't react to her brain's impulses yet. She was like a deer about to be trampled by a titan; her eyes big and scared, so Eren tried to placate her as best as he could.

''Dina,'' he said soothingly, ''you don't have to be afraid. We're not here to hurt you. We're friends.'' Eren understood she probably thought they were from Marley. It was logical considering nobody really remembered their time as being a mindless titan.

He gave her some space as she controlled her irregular breathing pattern, all her hairs standing on end while she was trying to find her voice. ''Where… where am I?'' she spoke softly. Her voice was as feminine as they could get with a motherly undertone. It carried power but also the grace of something beautiful like a flower. It was a really intriguing blend of tones which made it very pleasant to listen to.

''You're in Paradis, just outside wall Maria,'' Eren answered. ''We're all Eldians just like you. My name is Eren,'' he introduced, ''and these are my friends Ymir and Annie.''

Both females gave a little wave while Dina still tried to get used to all of her senses returning to her. Memories were still vague and left her utterly confused. ''What happened to me?'' she eventually asked, calming down a bit.

Eren hesitated for a bit, a sigh escaping his mouth before replying truthfully. ''You were arrested by Marley for being part of the Eldia Restorationists. Your sentence was to wander Utopia forever as a mindless titan, much like your husband Grisha Yeager.''

Like a shock-wave, all of her memories returned to her. She remembered how Zeke had turned them in and she also recalled her last moments; tied up and on her knees while the titan serum was injected into her. Her husband had looked at her with absolute terror in his eyes, but she had given him a kind smile in turn. ''Wherever you are,'' she whispered to him lovingly, ''I'll find you.'' Those were the last words she had spoken until she was swallowed up into a never-ending nightmare, surrounded by nothing but darkness.

Dina was sweating as she saw those memories flash before her eyes, her heart beating in her throat. ''Grisha!'' she yelled, ''where is he?'' She looked around in a newfound panic only for Eren to sooth her.

''Don't worry, he's okay. I'll bring you to him, all right?'' Eren promised Dina. He could see why his father would fall for such a gorgeous lady. She was filled with worry for him, and looked to be very kind and motherly.

Dina looked warily at Eren until she nodded her head. ''Okay, thank you, Eren,'' she whispered reluctantly but appreciatively, taking his hand so she could stand up on her feet.

''But before we go,'' Eren added, ''there are a few things I need to tell you.''

* * *

It had been a long and rough day for Grisha Yeager. He was utterly exhausted. At the moment, he was lying on the couch because he was unable to walk yet. Carla had been worried sick when she saw the state her husband was in, but he reassured her he'd be fine and tried to wave her concern off, without much result.

She'd had enough of all the secrecy and demanded Grisha to finally tell what was going on. He grumbled and promised to tell as soon as Eren would return. What he didn't expect, however, was that he would have both Annie and Dina with him.

Needless to say, the shock was palpable on his face. Dina looked exactly as how he remembered her; she hadn't aged a day while he was considerably older now. ''Dina,'' he whispered emotionally.

Dina's smile was filled with love, but also hurt. She wanted to kiss Grisha so badly, but knew that she couldn't. Eren had told her everything on their way to his home, including he had been married again. ''Hi, Grisha,'' she said and settled for a hug instead. ''I missed you.''

Annie stayed silent, especially when Carla and Mikasa joined in the living room as well. Grisha eventually motioned for everybody to sit down and then gave his son the stage.

Eren cleared his throat and saw that he had everybody's attention. Without holding back, he gave his small group of friends and loved ones his story and told them everything that they needed to know.

* * *

 **And that's all for now, people! Did you like it, love it, hate it? Review please! They make me smile like Dina in her titan form! :D Next chapter we'll have a little time skip and see Eren's group preparing for- and initiating their coup d'état. Until then. ^^**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


	6. Battle for Paradis: Preparations

**Hey guys, I'm finally back! First off, let me apologize to all of you for going silent for 8 months. I tried my best to be consistent, but I failed, and since I'm graduating I had no time to write whatsoever. Now though, I am back, and hopefully, I can continue to upload a chapter a month. :) As always, enjoy! ^^**

* * *

''Titans!'' Speech

 _''Titans!''_ Thoughts

* * *

Roughly six months had passed since Eren had told his story to his family. A lot had changed in that time. Eren eventually had managed to convince both Reiner and Bertolt to join his side too, with some help from Annie, of course. While both boys were very reluctant at first, they quickly grew in their new roles.

Annie had been teaching Mikasa how to fight and defend herself, while Bertolt taught her how to handle rifles. She was a natural at both, which wasn't surprising whatsoever—she was an Ackerman, after all. Mikasa wanted to accompany Eren to the interior, and while both Grisha and Carla had flat out refused at first, there was no changing her mind.

And so, Annie and Bertolt were preparing her as best as they could. Meanwhile, Reiner was teaching Dina how to control her female titan while Eren still focused his efforts on teaching Ymir.

While a lot did change, one thing had stayed the same and even grew exponentially over these past months, and that was the close bond Eren had with his family. Needless to say, his story was shocking and hard to believe, but the amount of proof he had made it undeniable.

It resulted in an environment where everybody was looking out for each other. Carla had grown so fond of the three warriors of Marley and Ymir that she almost saw them as her own children, while Dina was like a sister she never had. As a result, the household was always busy with so many residents living there now.

Another thing that had grown was Mikasa's affections. She was the first to believe Eren's story and it had brought her that much closer to the boy who she liked so much. Eren had left out the detail they had married each other in the future, since he knew it would be inevitable that it was going to happen again. This time around, though, he was going to reciprocate her feelings a lot sooner.

At the moment, Eren, Grisha, Annie, Reiner, Bertolt, Ymir, Dina and Mikasa had all met in the basement to discuss their plan of attack tomorrow. They all knew the mission and how important it was.

''Everyone, this is the moment we have been training for,'' Eren began, eyeing each member of his group individually. ''Our mission is to get the founding titan from Frieda Reiss, take down the faulty government and install a new one under the leadership of Historia Reiss. We'll split up in two when we've reached the interior around here,'' Eren explained, pointing to an entry point inside wall Sina.

''From there,'' he continued, ''Grisha, Dina, Annie and Reiner will locate Historia and ensure her safety. She'll be on one of the estates the Reiss family owns and administers; either here, here or here,'' Eren explained, pointing at the locations on the map, which were all deep inside wall Rose.

''Once that's done,'' he continued, ''they will provide the main defense against the Military Police Brigade once they'll inevitably find out a coup is happening. Dina will only shift when is necessary and focus her efforts on destroying their weaponry, though you don't have to be afraid for any opposition. The military is very corrupt and they are a bunch of lazy slacks who have never seen a titan before in their life.''

The four of them nodded their heads, indicating that they understood.

''Meanwhile, Bertolt, Ymir, Mikasa and I will focus on Frieda and her founding titan. We'll try to reason with her first and only shift when Frieda is hostile and tries to kill us. I'll keep her occupied while Ymir gives the necessary protection to Bertolt and Mikasa.

''Once our mission is complete, we've one last step to achieve. In order for the military to be on our side when the coup is done, we have to expose the king and the higher ups as frauds. We'll use an influential newspaper to spread the truth of Paradis and crown Historia the new, legitimate ruler.'' Eren took a deep breath and then gave an encouraging smile. ''Once this is over, we can start the slow process of getting Paradis titan free and prepare for the arrival of the cart and beast titan. Now, are there any questions?''

As he had expected, almost everybody had something on their mind. This was going to be an arduous and pretty dangerous task for everybody involved, hence why Eren wasn't surprised a lot of questions still remained.

''Reiner?'' he offered gently.

''I'm wondering, Eren. You've got the attack, colossus and armored titan all sitting pretty in a couple of flasks. While we can't inherit the titans anymore, why not use them on Mikasa or Carla? Surely that would be more beneficial for us, right?''

Eren nodded his head. Reiner had a good point and Eren had thought about it a lot, but eventually decided it wasn't worth it. Mikasa was an exceptionally good fighter on her own and while his mom was a strong woman, she wasn't a fighter whatsoever.

''I believe with the current set-up we have it'll be more than enough to accomplish our goal. Moreover, more titans so deep in the heart of wall Rose and Sina would only cause unnecessary damage, commotion and maybe even innocent lives. We want to avoid those as much as possible,'' Eren explained.

Reiner seemed satisfied with the answer. He nodded his head in contentment.

''Annie?'' he continued gently.

''Maybe the most important detail of our mission.'' She motioned to Grisha, Dina and Reiner. ''What does Historia look like?''

Eren grinned. Annie was always the one with attention to detail; calculated as ever. While Reiner's leadership was unmatched, Annie had to be one of the best strategists he ever met. Even at such a young age, she could probably match Dot or Erwin.

''I've thought about that. Since photo cameras are unheard of inside the walls, most people use composition drawings. Luckily, my father here had to master it for his profession as a doctor. He was kind enough to draw some with my help,'' Eren revealed and nodded to his father.

''I've drawn multiple head shots from the frontal and sagittal plane. Historia has blonde hair, blue eyes and is very short,'' Grisha explained while he grabbed a few drawings and showed them to everybody. ''She'll furthermore act and speak sophisticated and may or may not react to the name Krista. Obviously, since she's only twelve, getting her good and trustworthy leads-men are necessities in the first years that she'll rule. Eren has provided us with two names, and I've also made drawings of them.''

Grisha grabbed a few more pictures and showed them off. ''The older gentleman is called Dot Pixis. He's a reliable general of the Garrison that will actively support our cause—assuming we can convince him—and is therefore essential to get on our side as quickly as possible. Most men in the army respect him, so that makes him a valuable asset to us.'' He paused for a moment to make sure everybody had gotten a good look at the general.

''The other gentleman is named Erwin Smith and he's commander of an elite unit of warriors who're extremely dangerous. You can guess why want him on our side as well,'' Grisha finished.

The group nodded their head. A successful coup didn't just mean crowning another ruler; it also meant having the army and the citizens on your side. Like with all massive changes, that needed careful planning and a lot of time.

''Mikasa?'' Eren continued.

She gave him a small smile. ''Are there any dangerous opponents we need to know of before we engage in battle?'' she asked him curiously. ''I don't doubt that the government has spies and assassins at the ready for people with loose lips that might cause an uproar.''

Eren nodded his head, his widening smile matching Mikasa's. Just like Annie, she was a very smart girl at a young age. Two names appeared in his head, and not coincidentally, both had the last name Ackerman. ''You're right, Mikasa. There are two guys to look out for, one even more lethal than the other. Again, my dad has been kind enough to draw them for us.''

Just like before, Grisha grabbed a couple of sheets of paper and showed them to everybody while Eren explained. ''The older looking fellow with the bowler hat is Kenny Ackerman,'' Eren saw Mikasa's eyes widen for a moment, but then they immediately turned neutral again as he continued, ''and he's the guy who cleans up all the loose ends inside the walls. At the moment, he works as the crown's personal assassin, but later he becomes a commander for the Military Police Brigade.''

A few murmurs were heard when Eren revealed this information, but everybody went silent again as he went on. ''Kenny is notorious for slitting the throats of his victims. Furthermore, he's an excellent strategist, highly intelligent and a cunning individual. His accuracy with his guns rival Bertolt's and Mikasa's, so don't ever engage him out in the open.

''However, his downfall is his quest for power. He'll do whatever it takes to get the 'power of the Gods' to himself, as he calls the ability to shift into a titan. Reasoning is out of the question with him. He's a bloody psychopath, so kill him if you can.'' Eren's voice was resolute, leaving no room for argument. Everybody understood the world was better off with some people off of it.

''The younger fellow,'' Eren continued, ''is called Levi Ackerman.'' This time, Mikasa didn't move an inch as Eren revealed the matching last name. ''This guy is extremely dangerous. We most likely won't see him since he leads the operations outside of wall Maria under Erwin's command, so he most likely won't be present, but on the off chance that he is, do not—under no circumstance—engage him.'' Eren's voice was stern and dead serious here. ''If I'm being honest, I don't even know if I can take him on in my titan form, so flee when you see him.''

Eren saw everybody tensing at what he revealed. They couldn't believe there was a guy who was even stronger than Eren with all of his knowledge and experience combined. ''He's extremely fast, agile and level-headed,'' he continued, ''you'll be down before you know it, and that's something I want to avoid, because once you're captured, you _will_ be tortured and executed.'' Eren sighed. ''But, he's not a bad guy. We'll need to have convinced Erwin before he gets the wrong idea and sends his elite squad after us.''

''How are we going to do that? And what if the scenario does happen that he's coming after us?'' Bertolt questioned, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. He doubted they would stand a chance if Levi truly was as terrifying as Eren made him out to be.

''That's something my father and I will work on. He's an excellent speaker and voice of reason—as you may know—and combined with my knowledge, we should be able to convince him sooner than later,'' Eren answered confidently. ''And if the scenario happens that the Levi squad will attack, I'll be the most suited to deal with them. They'll focus their attack on the main perpetrator anyway—which is me—so don't bother try to defend me then. They don't know Historia is important either, so flee with her while you can. Levi will surely stay behind and fight me, and maybe you'll have to deal with two or three extremely good fighters, but they're not invincible by any means…''

The pause that Eren made was noticeable, but nobody commented on it. Annie assumed he probably had experienced that they were defeated in some way or the other. She wondered who could bring down such experienced fighters, but didn't think too long on the subject. She instead focused on the final question being asked by Dina.

''I was wondering what kind of weaponry we're dealing with, Eren,'' she spoke. ''You mentioned guns and canons. What kind of guns are they? Are there any other weapons we should know about?'' Dina smiled at her stepson as he nodded.

''Paradis doesn't have any machine guns or long distance rifles,'' he explained. ''We're talking about semi-automatic with a maximum effective distance of around two-hundred meters. Their cannons are old and inaccurate; those take a lot of time to reload as well. It'll give you plenty of opportunity to dismantle them.'' It seemed defeating the army wasn't going to be very hard. Still, Dina knew there was going to be a 'but' if she looked at Eren, and her assumptions were always very accurate.

''However,'' he continued, confirming Dina's suspicions, ''they have a very unique and successful weapon that'll make them extremely agile and lethal in the air, and that's the vertical maneuvering equipment. It's basically a harness that will allow a soldier to fight in a 3D space as opposed to a 2D one. It works with grappling hooks that'll shoot the user into the air, powered by gas and armed with a set of extremely sharp plug-in blades. Designed to bring down titans first and foremost, they can be used very effectively in normal combat as well.''

''Those sound like it'll be very hard to deal with,'' Ymir muttered. ''What's our plan of attack against them?''

Eren smiled. Since he had a lot of experience with them, he knew exactly what the weaknesses were as well. ''Since they run on gas, there's only a limited time they can be used before they need to be refilled. It's the same with the blades, really. They break easily and need to be replaced. Stall long enough and they'll run out of resources eventually.''

''I hope that's not the only way to defeat them,'' Reiner said. ''You can't possibly expect us to exhaust their gas and blades.'' The others in the room nodded their head. If they were to rely on stalling alone, they might put each other in unnecessary danger.

Fortunately, Eren had thought about that too. Of course Reiner was the one who expressed his concerns regarding the stalling tactic; Eren expected nothing less. ''Luckily, there's another way. The grappling hooks, while durable, are extremely prone to attacks. If you happen to find yourself facing the Military Police Brigade and they use the vertical maneuvering equipment, don't hesitate to shift.'' Eren paused his explanation and looked at both Dina and Ymir, whose stern expressions indicated that they understood.

Satisfied, he continued. ''Just grab the hooks or kick them out of the wall; with the strength you possess they should break, rendering the equipment useless.'' Eren gave both females a reassuring glance. ''But don't worry; since you'll be on the countryside, Dina, the equipment can't be used anyway. And you are with me, Ymir. As long as you cover me and protect the nape of your neck, nothing can happen.''

Both women seemed to be relieved about that. ''All right, Eren, I think with Grisha, Reiner and Annie at my side I'll be able to succeed,'' Dina replied. She eyed Grisha lovingly while Reiner and Annie gave a small smirk.

''I'll be able to succeed too!'' Ymir chimed in. ''You have prepared me well for this moment, Eren, I won't let you down!''

''Me neither, Eren,'' Mikasa stated just as passionately. ''I'll make sure to give you cover as long as necessary!''

Everybody agreed and gave similar cries of encouragement. Eren closed his eyes, unable to hold in a chuckle that escaped from his mouth. The coup d'état they'd planned was going to be a major operation; there were a lot of things that could go wrong, Eren knew. Even so, he had an elite team of fighters at his side who believed in him through and through. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he found the notion ridiculous, but here he was; all the people in this room were willing to risks their lives for Paradis and Eldia under his command. If they believed in him, then so would he; failing was not an option.

''Now then, if there are no other questions, I suggest we get our sleep,'' Grisha advised sagely while looking at his son. He couldn't have been prouder when he saw the resolute look in his eyes. ''We need our rest if we leave for the interior early in the morning.''

* * *

Somewhere on the vast estate of the Reiss family, under a thick oak tree, a girl with golden blonde locks was looking up idly at the sky. The tree provided excellent shade against the morning heat while the wind played with its branches, making the leaves rustle.

The clouds were non-existent today. Usually, Historia would see if she could make any shapes out of them to ease her boredom. Even the kids who usually would be throwing rocks at her were not present today. At least that gave her some sort of distraction. She honestly preferred that over being ignored all day.

In the distance, Historia could hear her maternal grandparents going about their usual chores in and around the estate. Her mother wasn't present, of course. Historia had no idea what she did all day long, but the excuses her maternal grandparents fetched her became more obvious the more she asked. Eventually, she decided to let it rest, simply because she knew she was being lied to anyway. Not that it mattered to Historia; her mother hadn't said a single word to her ever in her entire life.

Honestly, the only reason she was here, playing with her hair and staring at the endless sky, was because she expected big sister to come around, like she would do very often. Historia couldn't remember much about her; she only knew she was her big sister and that she would feel extremely happy and content whenever she was around, but the memories of her get foggy afterwards.

It frustrated Historia to no end, but she trusted on her feelings and intuition that her big sister would show up today, and this time, she was not going to forget the experience. She was going to write it down right after she would leave again. After all, big sister had been the one to teach her how to write and read.

Just when she was starting to get a bit sleepy, a woman she didn't recognize appeared in her point of view. She was pretty with the same beautiful blonde hair that she had. Normally if the estate got visitors, they would completely ignore her, yet this woman gave her a sweet, motherly smile. ''Hi there. You must be Historia Reiss, am I right?''

The way how Historia's eyes lit up was almost comical. ''You know my name?'' she squeaked, her voice cracking with surprise. This was the first time in her life anybody outside the estate had given her attention, excluding her big sister, of course.

''Of course I do, sweetie,'' the woman cooed, bending through her knees to get on eye level with her. ''After all, I came all the way from Shiganshina to see you.''

If it was possible, Historia's eyes would've rolled out of her skull right then and there. Somebody she didn't know came to see _her?_ She'd never heard of Shiganshina before, but it sounded like it was far away. ''Who are you?'' she asked, cocking her head. Conflicting emotions ran through Historia's body: on one hand she was extremely confused, but on the other she felt incredible excitement well up that this woman came specially for her. For what reason, she could only guess.

''My name is Dina,'' the woman introduced herself warmly, holding out her hand, ''it's very nice to meet you, Historia.''

Historia shook Dina's hand dumbly, unable to comprehend what was happening yet. ''Are you a friend of big sister?'' she guessed, having no reason to believe otherwise.

Dina laughed and shook her head. ''I am not, though I am somewhat familiar with your big sister,'' she revealed with a wink. Dina stood up and stretched her body lazily. ''It's so hot today, wouldn't you agree? How about we go for a little stroll?''

''You mean off the estate?'' Historia whispered, her excitement only building. Leaving the estate was one of her biggest dreams, even if it was just to explore the countryside a bit.

''Exactly, sweetie!'' Dina replied jovially. ''Don't worry, I'm a friend of your father, Rod Reiss. He told me to come visit you and show you around the area a bit. He knows you've been dying to see something other than this boring estate. So, what do you say? You wanna come along with me?''

The offer was too tempting to refuse for Historia. Having learnt ample social skills up until this point, she completely trusted Dina to bring her back once the stroll was over. ''Would I?'' she squeaked with excitement, a genuine smile spreading on her face while her blue eyes twinkled with life. Historia was so eager that she felt like jumping up and down; and that's exactly what she did.

Dina giggled at her adorable antics and offered her a hand. ''Let's go then!'' she chirped.

Not thinking twice, Historia took Dina's hand as they moved away from the oak tree she'd sat under for hours on end, to one of the many exits on the estate in a leisurely tempo. So many times, Historia had dreamed of leaving the estate, and it seemed her dad—even though she had never met him in person—had finally let his voice be heard and sent Dina to show her around.

She was so happy that she almost failed to hear the gunshot that went off behind her and the scream of anguish coming from Dina herself. Of course, that was a little hard to ignore when warm blood splattered in her face. Historia's eyes widened in shock, her heart skipped a beat as she felt Dina's hand go limb in hers. She looked at Dina with horror and the gaping wound in her upper arm; part of it was completely blown off.

''My, my, what do we have here? Where are the pretty ladies off to?'' a deep, rumbling voice asked. Historia was petrified on the spot; her hands were shaking as Dina's blood dripped from her face to the ground below. Behind her she could see a man sneering at them. He wore shady black clothing and was accompanied by four other men. The smoking barrel in his hand indicated he was the perpetrator of firing the shot. Furthermore, what stood out about him was what Historia recognized as a cowboy hat that rested neatly on top of his head.

The man continued to grin savagely while Dina cried in pain. ''Here I was doing my usual rounds on the estates of the Reiss family, expecting another boring day, when my little eye spotted a woman I didn't recognize talking to Historia and trying to take her away. What do you say, boys? Shall I teach Historia a lesson why she should _never_ leave this estate by slitting this woman's throat right in front of her?''

''Oh, I think that's a very good idea!'' one of them agreed, chuckling like mad.

''All right then, let's get the fun started!''

* * *

Deep inside the heart of wall Sina, Frieda Reiss was calmly drinking a cup of tea. She was dressed up neatly, her white dress and matching straw hat giving her the allure of a proper lady. Long black hair flowed to her waist and she spoke with eloquence and poise fit for a queen.

Her father, Rod Reiss, was sitting opposite of her. Usually very calm and level-headed, today, he seemed very nervous about something. ''Are you sure about this, Frieda?'' he whispered in disbelief, holding his handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face. ''What if this is the wrong decision?''

''It is not, father,'' she spoke with finality that made it seem it was an everyday fact. ''We're in for war sooner or later. The first king made it clear he wanted to safe Eldia by shutting it off completely from the rest of the world. The threat of trampling the earth with all the wall titans should any nation be foolish enough to attack us has kept us protected for one hundred years, but it won't work forever.''

Rod didn't understand. Frieda's personality had completely shifted about six months ago. He wondered if it had to do something with inheriting the first king's thoughts and opinions, but why they were so different now from a half year ago, he still couldn't fathom.

''So, what do you propose we do then? Sit back and wait? We've done that for six months!'' Rod cried out in disbelief.

Frieda was unfazed by her father's sudden outburst and continued to sip her tea gently. ''Yes, father. And we continue to wait until I say otherwise. Something is set into motion. I don't know what, but we're going to experience it sooner than later.'' Frieda was clear that she wasn't going anywhere. For six months, she hadn't been out of the estate, and that worried Rod more than anything. It meant she was waiting for something to happen or somebody to show up, but what or whom that was she had no idea about, and that frustrated Rod more than anything. He didn't like uncertainty whatsoever.

She even skipped her monthly visit to Historia today; something that was unheard of. That confirmed to Rod that this wasn't Frieda's own doing but more so the will of the first king.

Rod muttered something under his breath when he failed to convince Frieda otherwise yet again. He'd tried for the past four months or so and he honestly didn't know why he still put effort into it. Nonetheless, he respected Frieda's decision and would always fall silent afterwards.

''Very well then,'' Rod said, nodding his head in agreement to his daughter. He poured himself some tea as well and continued to accompany Frieda in complete silence. He took this time to recollect his thoughts and to think about the future. He knew it was an uncertain one, but he believed the path they'd chosen was ultimately the best. This way, the remaining Eldians stayed safe and oblivious to the dangers of the outside world.

When Rod had finished his tea, commotion was heard inside the estate. He grumbled and opened the doors to the living room to see what all the fuss was about. In the middle of the room stood four kids; they couldn't have been older than twelve, yet when Rod saw them panic gripped him right around the throat. They were surrounded by men of the Military Police Brigade—his personal body guards—who looked absolutely pissed. He saw how one of them was tending himself to minor wounds the kids inflicted upon him; he likely got punched square in the face when they were denied entry to the estate and forced themselves in.

''Sir,'' one of his bodyguards stated professionally, ''these four rebellious kids attacked Maxwell and then stormed inside the living room like they were playing a game of tag. What are you orders, sir? Should we dispose of them?''

Rod wanted to scream yes at the top of his lungs, but before he could do so, Frieda appeared at his side. She put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly, before giving the Military Police Brigade a warm smile. ''That won't be necessary, gentlemen. These four individuals are our prized guests.'' She paused and eyed Eren with confidence. ''After all, they are the reason why I have been waiting all this time.''

* * *

 **That's it for now, people. Did you like it, love it, hate it? Please leave a review! I love to read and to respond to them. ;3 Next time the continuation. Until then! ^^**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


	7. Battle for Paradis: Mayhem

**New chapter is here, people! As always, enjoy! :D**

* * *

''Titans!'' Speech

 _''Titans!''_ Thoughts

* * *

As an experienced fighter, Eren was a natural tactician as well. Locating Frieda Reiss was never the problem in his mind, but convincing her to join his cause—without escalating the situation until it would turn into a bloody titan fight in the heart of wall Sina like his battle with Annie had been—was going to be very tricky indeed.

Therefore, he had prepared with his dad in fine detail how he should approach Frieda and what he should say in about fifty different scenarios. What he never expected, however, was for Frieda to welcome them with open arms.

Mikasa, Ymir and Bertolt all eyed Eren with uncertainty at Frieda's polite tone when she ordered the Military Police Brigade to back off. They did so, albeit reluctantly and with frowns on their faces.

''Please forgive my bodyguards for their rudeness and allow me to formerly welcome you into the Reiss estate, ladies and gentlemen,'' Frieda continued in that same polite tone, bowing slightly. ''As you probably know, my name is Frieda Reiss and this is my father, Rod Reiss.''

Eren was slightly stupefied. _''Why is she so welcoming? Is it a trap to lure us in a safe sense of security?''_ Eren shook his head mentally. _''No, it can't be. She doesn't know about us or what we want. However, she did say she had been waiting for us…''_ Deciding that the best way to approach the situation was to reciprocate, Eren bowed his head as well.

''It's nice to meet you, Frieda Reiss. My name is Eren Yeager and these are my friends Mikasa Ackerman, Ymir and Bertolt Hoover. We've come all the way from Shiganshina with important information that might reshape Paradis as we know it and restore Eldia to its former glory.''

Rod guffawed at what Eren said, completely caught off guard by the fact he was so knowledgeable about certain things that should be classified to the general public. The Military Police Brigade just snorted, thinking what Eren said was complete nonsense. The only one who seemed happy was Frieda. Her smile was bright as she beckoned them over. ''That is very great news, sir Yeager. Come, let's discuss this in more detail privately.''

''Hold on,'' Mikasa suddenly said, her eyes sharp and her voice stern. ''Why should we trust you? For all we know you're deceiving us.'' She raised a good point. Ymir and Bertolt nodded their heads in agreement as well. For all that they'd heard about Frieda, she was acting completely different.

''You do not need to worry, miss Ackerman,'' Frieda reassured, ''for I have been told six months ago about your arrival. I have waited ever since for you to pay me a visit.'' Frieda eyed Eren again, her eyes shining brightly. ''You are feeling it too, don't you? It's why you were so confident that I was in this exact estate while I could've been anywhere else. Whatever you have to say, I will most likely listen and whatever request you have, I will most likely comply. There are forces at work here that we can't comprehend, but I trust them to guide us in the right direction.''

Eren understood what she was talking about. The curse of Ymir and the first king's will; forces beyond logical explanation. They were always present, but how they worked was simply unfathomable. ''All right, Frieda. We will talk about this information privately.'' Eren gave Mikasa, Ymir and Bertolt a nod. Since they trusted Eren, they followed him without complaint.

Once they were alone—in the same room where Frieda and Rod had been drinking tea in previously—Frieda cut to the chase immediately. ''Eren Yeager, you want my founding titan, don't you?''

This time, Eren was prepared. He didn't react, although Mikasa, Ymir and Bertolt did gasp. Of course, they hadn't expected for her to know that, hence their surprise. ''I do, Frieda,'' he replied evenly nonetheless, his calm demeanour radiating strength. ''I need it if I want to reform Paradis.''

Rod Reiss eyed Eren crazily. This kid out of nowhere just waltzed in his home and demanded Frieda to hand over her founding titan so he could reform Paradis. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. ''Are you insane?'' he questioned, clasping one hand over his face. ''Do you think Frieda is going to hand over her titan to some random kid? How do you even know about the power of the titans!?''

''He knows because he has the founding titan as well,'' Frieda replied with a small smile. Rod's reaction would've been hilarious if the situation wasn't so serious; he was gaping like a fish, his expression completely shocked while his face turned white as snow. Ignoring her father's stunned look, Frieda nodded her head to Eren. ''Very well. I will give you my founding titan so you can reform Paradis.''

This time, Eren couldn't help but keep the shock off of his face himself. ''You… Just like that?'' he stuttered in disbelief. ''You haven't even heard what my plan is!''

Frieda gave another sweet smile. ''I don't have to. Whatever you are going to tell me, my decision is already made; it was set in stone six months ago. I don't know what you did, Eren Yeager, but you had my support the moment you started your reformation.''

Rod's cynical chuckle reverberated through the entire room. ''You…'' he whispered, pointing to Eren. ''What have you done to my daughter? Did you brainwash her, you devil!? Do you think I will let you devour her so you can get her founding titan? I should kill you right here—''

However, Rod's angry rant was cut off forcefully by Frieda, who slapped him across the cheek with enough force to make it sting. ''Father, if you try to hurt Eren in any way, I will personally kill you.'' Her words were so icy and dead serious that Rod was rooted to the spot. ''If Eren wants to devour me, he can. If he wants anybody else to devour me, he can as well.''

Mikasa, Ymir and Bertolt now began to understand Frieda was not acting on her own intuitions, but rather those forced upon her when she received the founding titan. This realization dawned on Rod too. He hissed, but stayed completely silent.

''Eren Yeager, I will comply with anything you want me to do,'' Frieda continued. ''Tell me, and I'll obey.''

Never once had Eren even dreamed of hoping that convincing Frieda would be this easy. Yet here she was, completely willing to throw her life away if Eren so wished. It seemed he didn't only avoid potential disaster, but gained a powerful ally as well. ''Okay, Frieda,'' Eren responded after he had cleared his thoughts, radiating positivity. ''This is what I want you to do…''

* * *

After Eren had explained his plan to Frieda and Rod—and told them he wasn't going to kill Frieda but simply remove her titan—he asked them to pull strings at the higher ups so they could actually start to expose the king as a fraud to the masses. Of course, this was going to result into opposition from the Military Police Brigade, So Eren was preparing his squad as best as he could.

''In about a few hours, hell will break loose around here,'' he spoke to them seriously. ''Once the Military Police Brigade gets word about the coup d'état, I want you guys to stick to the plan no matter what.'' He paused to give his team the individual attention that they deserved before continuing. ''Now to make sure, tell me one final time what your roles are.''

Mikasa went first. ''I provide far away cover alongside Bertolt with my rifle. If we get under heavy fire, we will send out a distress signal so Eren can shift and help us out.'' Then, somewhat hesitantly, she added, ''I will not engage the enemy one on one.''

Eren smiled at the sour look she sported. Gently cupping her chin, he gave her a kiss on her nose. ''Your time will come, Mikasa. Trust me, all right?'' Eren spoke kindly. The blush that appeared on her cheeks was nothing more than adorable.

''I-I will, Eren, I mean I always have!'' Mikasa squeaked in embarrassment, which resulted into snickers from Bertolt and Ymir. Eren would've chuckled too if it wasn't for the fact he was simply too engaged in the mission at the moment.

''Good. Don't let me down then, all right?'' He gave her a wink before continuing.

''Bertolt?'' Eren asked.

''I will provide far away cover as well. In the circumstance that we have to deal with one on one battles, I'll use my excessive combat training to stall long enough so you can help us out,'' Bertolt answered without hesitation.

''Perfect. What about you, Ymir?'' Eren said finally.

''I will be your back-up in my titan form. I'll use your body as a shield and make sure we don't get lured into any traps or get attacked from behind,'' she spoke resolutely.

''Excellent! It seems we're all set then,'' Eren stated. ''All right, team, let's take in our positions.'' While Eren was preparing for the inevitable battle, he wondered how his dad, his stepmom, Annie and Reiner were doing.

* * *

Kenny Ackerman had seen a lot of things in his considerable lifespan already: from titans devouring people to straight up corruption and murder. Growing up with these types of things made it an everyday part of his life, and therefore, killing was in his blood. So, the moment he spotted a pretty young blonde talking to Historia, he initially thought nothing of it, until his instincts told him something was off about the encounter. Patiently waiting, he stayed expertly hidden until the woman started to lead Historia away.

Kenny's grin couldn't have been wider at that point; his instincts never failed him. He beckoned some of his men over silently before pulling his gun. They were a good thirty-five yards away, but Kenny's aim was impeccable. He pulled the trigger and shot the woman straight in her upper arm, who gave a loud shriek of anguish.

A pity he had to kill the woman now. She was certainly pretty looking. He figured now was the best time to reveal himself. ''My, my, what do we have here? Where are the pretty ladies off to?'' he asked savagely, his grin crooked on his face. He saw how the woman's arm dangled lifelessly against her body, blood rushing out of her gaping wound while the initial blast had splattered it against Historia's face, who looked completely terrified.

The woman continued to cry in pain; if that wound didn't get treated fast, she'd die of blood loss anyway, so Kenny was going to use her as an example for Historia. ''Here I was doing my usual rounds on the estates of the Reiss family, expecting another boring day, when my little eye spotted a woman I didn't recognize talking to Historia and trying to take her away. What do you say, boys? Shall I teach Historia a lesson why she should _never_ leave this estate by slitting this woman's throat right in front of her?'' he asked his men, already grabbing his trusty blade for the final kill.

''Oh, I think that's a very good idea!'' one of them agreed, chuckling like mad.

It was decided then. Kenny was going to enjoy this. ''All right then, let's get the fun started!'' he exclaimed. His grin never left his face as he walked over to the woman with the full intention to mercilessly bring her to her end. However, that's where his grin left his face as the woman spoke up.

''Kenny Ackerman,'' she muttered, regaining her exposure incredibly fast, which shocked Kenny more than that she knew his name. ''Do you really think that I came unprepared?'' The woman's voice was calm yet full of murderous intent. She clutched her arm but ignored it completely, as if she wasn't lethally wounded in the first place. ''If you don't want things to escalate further, I'd suggest that you let me go with Historia right now.''

In any other circumstance, Kenny would've laughed, but the snarl on the woman's face told him she wasn't bluffing whatsoever. Moreover, the wound he had inflicted was buzzing with a red static, and in turn, it was healing in front of his very eyes. His men were all rooted to the spot at what they saw. ''A witch!'' one of them blurted out in horror.

Kenny wasn't easily spooked, but this did scare him a little. He'd seen this once before—the power of the Gods when he'd met Uri Reiss—but didn't want to believe the woman possessed the ability to transform into a titan as well. ''Can I at least know the pretty lady's name before I make a decision?'' he inquired, doing his best to stall so he could think up a plan. Giving the woman's incredible healing factor, he knew he was dealing with something very serious.

''You cannot,'' she replied flatly. She spat out the blood that had accumulated in her mouth before continuing, ''and frankly, my patience is running thin. I'll go with Historia now. Don't try to stop me.''

Her arm had healed enough that she could use it again. Grabbing Historia's hand, she slowly started to back off, never keeping her eyes off of Kenny. He would've let her go with Historia for now so he could assess what he was dealing with, but one of his men raised his rifle in defiance, fully intent to shoot the woman in her head.

In the next moment, multiple gunshots were heard from the distance. Bullets zipped past Kenny's head so close he could feel the air pressure they created. He was fortunate enough not to get hit, but two of his men were not that fortunate. The one who had raised his rifle got hit in the neck; the bullet slashed right through his jugular. He gurgled helplessly as blood spew out of his neck like a fountain before dropping to the ground lifelessly.

The other man cried out in pain as the bullet went through his shoulder, destroying his acromion-clavicular joint. He clasped it tightly as he grunted, whimpered and wallowed, desperately trying to put pressure on the wound; his arm was completely useless at the moment.

Kenny hissed, his heart beating a mile a minute. ''Sharpshooters! Take cover!'' he cried to his remaining men, quickly dashing to the oak tree Historia had been sitting under. While he was running, he aimed his gun at the blond woman once more, this time with the intent to blow her head off of her torso.

However, the distraction her back-up had created was enough for the woman to do something he'd never forget. She bit down on her skin and immediately afterwards yellow lightning struck the ground where she stood, making the earth shudder. A titan began to build itself up out of nothing, towering over the estate once the transformation was completed. The smile she wore was creepy enough to spook Kenny completely, especially when she looked down upon him, her murderous intentions clear as day.

'' _I think I might need some back-up myself for this one,''_ he thought with wide eyes, grabbing his other gun and firing crazily at the smiling titan in front of him.

* * *

Dina grumbled inside her titan disappointingly; she hadn't expected to deal with Kenny Ackerman of all people. _''And I was so close to getting Historia as well,''_ she thought sourly. That gunshot wound he had inflicted on her had hurt so bad that she was surprised she didn't pass out. What surprised her more, however, was the fact how fast it healed now that she was a titan-shifter. Luckily, Annie, Reiner and Grisha had given her excellent back-up from the spot they were hidden in. Although they missed Kenny, they'd given her enough time to shift. She would simply finish off Kenny herself now.

''I missed him,'' Annie said stoically to Reiner and Grisha, her disappointment palpable in her words. She never kept her eyes off Kenny, but since Dina had shifted, she didn't have a clear shot on him anymore.

''We all missed him,'' Grisha grumbled, reloading his rifle and aiming for Kenny's remaining men who had scattered. _''This mean all hell will break loose in a moment. Dina shifting will cause a lot of commotion.''_

''We'll have to move soon,'' Reiner stated. ''If they get air of our location, we'll be trapped before we know it. Never mind that Historia is out and in the open. Grisha, how long do we have before back-up arrives for Kenny?'' He shot his rifle once more, missing by an inch as the bullet ricocheted off of some metalwork from a well one of Kenny's men had hidden behind.

''Ten minutes at most. Dina will be spotted from miles away around here. Every soldier of the Military Police Brigade will be sent to kill her if we don't secure Historia quickly,'' he responded. His rifle went off to finish the guy who he had shot in his shoulder previously. This time, he hit him in the back as he tried to run for cover.

''I'll go,'' Annie said immediately, packing up her rifle. Not waiting for an answer, she started to sprint out in the open to get to Historia's location.

''Hey, Annie!'' Reiner screamed after her, his face turned into anger and concern for her. ''I'll go after her!'' He didn't wait for Grisha's opinion on the matter as he tried to catch up to Annie.

Grisha cursed under his breath, obviously not agreeing with this turn of events, but he wasn't going to run after them. _''I'll never be able to run that fast. Best I can do is to cover them,''_ he reasoned, steadying himself so he could shoot his rifle once more.

Meanwhile, Kenny had fired both of his guns empty on the smiling titan, yet she wasn't fazed whatsoever. Instead, she brought one of her arms backwards and up-high, trying to squash Kenny like a pesky bug. ''What the…'' he hissed before jumping and rolling out of the way just in time. Dina's hand smacked the ground so hard it left a big imprint behind while dust was kicked up everywhere.

'' _That was way too close,''_ Kenny thought wildly, his heart beating in his throat. He had to reload fast and then somehow hit her in the nape; it was the only way he was going to stand a chance. He cursed himself for not bringing his vertical maneuvering equipment with him. Much time to think and to recover he didn't get. Dina continued her assault by sweeping her hand sideways like she was delivering a slap, only this one would turn him into a bloody pulp if it hit.

Miraculously, he was able to dodge out of the way by doing a back-flip on his hands, but the wind Dina generated with her sweeping motion still knocked him roughly off his feet. He grunted as he landed on his back, the burning sensation of the sand he slid over bruising him. Kenny scrambled to his feet like he was possessed. _''I can't fight her head-on,''_ he realized. _''I need to distract her.''_

Looking around, he spotted the sole occupant watching the battle unfold shell-shocked. Historia hadn't moved a single inch since the battle had started. She was completely rooted to the spot. Grinning, Kenny did the only thing he could in this situation. ''Johan! Shoot Historia! Kill her!'' he ordered to one of his men who had taken cover in a barn.

Immediately, the smiling titan shifted her attention to Historia, which is exactly what Kenny wanted. He had time to reload his guns while his subordinate aimed his rifle on the blonde girl with the intention to take her life.

Before he could shoot, Dina had already blocked the path between him and Historia, especially when she saw Annie and Reiner approaching in the distance. _''Good, get Historia in safety, I'll handle things here.''_ She was tired of playing games; Dina didn't want to resort to this, but she knew she couldn't underestimate her opponents.

She spread both of her hands like they were claws; her fingers hardening to steel like proportions. With incredible speed, she approached the gunman who tried to shoot Historia, the earth rumbling under her feet. The agonizing shriek of absolute terror was cut short when Dina slashed her claws downwards in an X pattern, slicing him up in multiple bloodied humps of flesh. The barn never withstood the attack either; long gashes ran along its entire frame, creaking ominously before the building collapsed down on itself in a pile of ruble and dust.

Annie couldn't help but smirk a bit when she saw the spectacle unfold. _''The power of the female titan at full display; Eren chose wisely to give it to Dina,''_ she thought with pride in her voice. She was the first to reach Historia. Not thinking twice, she scooped up the petrified girl to bring her to safety. However, a bullet blocked her path before she could run back.

''Not so fast, missy,'' Kenny hissed dangerously. He'd seen what the smiling titan was capable of, but he also knew she'd be preoccupied with the reinforcements that already were arriving on the scene: men of the Military Police Brigade, fully equipped with weapons, heavy artillery and vertical maneuvering equipment. ''Historia isn't going anywhere.''

''Drop your weapons, Kenny!'' Reiner screamed, having caught up and aiming his rifle at the mercenary. ''Or else I'll shoot.''

Kenny aimed his second gun at Reiner with a crooked smile. ''You don't know what I am capable of, boy. I could kill you both if I want, but that won't give me any answers, now would it? Now why don't we solve this in a civilized manner? I'll drop my weapons if you drop yours.'' Kenny's smile couldn't be wider as Reiner seemed to contemplate the option, his body language unsure.

Annie's gaze, however, turned sharp. ''You're lying, Kenny,'' she responded cunningly. ''You know that you're in the disadvantage; you're hoping to take us off guard with your hidden knives.''

Kenny just chuckled, not saying anything for the longest of time. The tense situation lasted for a few more seconds until a big cannon blast was heard coming their way. Both parties gasped at the incoming projectile; the explosion went off just a few yards from them, knocking them off their feet violently.

Dina widened her eyes at the carnage; that shot was entirely meant for her, but the guy's aim was absolutely terrible. _''I have to help them,''_ her mind screamed at her. Ignoring the small army of men shooting at her, she covered the distance in mere seconds, desperately looking through the smoke and dust for her allies. There she found Historia, knocked out cold. Blood ran from her face while her body was completely covered in soot and dirt. _''Oh no, you poor thing,''_ Dina thought sadly, protectively wrapping her up in her hands. While she had secured Historia, she looked for Annie, Reiner and Kenny, but couldn't find them whatsoever. _''C'mon, where are they?''_ she thought, her desperation growing. Another cannon blast knocked her back to reality. The projectile managed to hit her this time around; she was blasted straight in her back, knocking her off balance and damaging her more than she would like to admit. Dina growled and roared, her titan producing so much noise that everybody in the immediate area had to cover their ears less they were reduced to a bloody pulp.

Dina knew she had to make a decision now. Staying longer with Historia in her hands brought her in grave danger, never mind the fact that she had no idea in what condition she was in at the moment. Her frustration and grief grew stronger as tears rolled down her cheeks. _''Annie, Reiner. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.''_

With no idea how they were doing, Dina took a run for it, effectively making the army follow her: she had to bring Historia to Grisha immediately and then focus all her efforts on defeating the Military Police Brigade if they wanted any chance in their mission succeeding.

* * *

The higher-ups and their puppet king had no idea what was going to hit them when they awoke today. Early in the morning, they were all enjoying breakfast together, chatting amiably about how much money they had earned, or what concubine they'd added to their ever-growing collection of women they'd slept with. They were in a jolly good mood; nothing could ruin it at the moment.

That was until presumably a _titan_ was spotted on the countryside near one of the estates of the Reiss family. Most of them had scoffed and laughed, waving it off as mere lies to scare the commoners, but when the rumors were confirmed to be real, some of them did start to sweat a little.

They'd discussed heatedly how it was possible a titan was running loose so deep into the heart of wall Rose and how to combat it, that their hearts almost threatened to stop when the most influential newspaper—Berg Newspaper from Stohess District—had printed an article about them claiming that they were frauds. From there, a bloody revolution seemed to appear out of nowhere where most of the Garrison started to combat the Military Police Brigade while hordes of people let their voices be heard all within the walls.

They expected the worst when Dot Pixis and Dhalis Zachary didn't respond to their distress messages, nor could they contact Frieda or Rod Reiss. The only one who was defending them at the moment was Nile Dok, but they had no idea how long he would hold out. Driven in a corner, they requested the audience of their only hope left. They didn't like it one bit, but it was their only chance.

''Tell us, you are still loyal to the crown, aren't you?'' one of them asked, his desperate quaver in his voice noticeable.

''I am, milord.''

''Then rid us from this uproar and we shall reward you and your men handsomely!'' he responded a little bit too loudly.

''We don't seek compensation. However, we fully expect that our expeditions outside the walls will be funded fully from now on,'' the man in question responded calmly.

''Yes, whatever you want! You have our word!'' the higher-up agreed immediately.

'' _For what it is worth; probably less than the dirt on the streets. You are lucky we weren't on an expedition and that we could come so quickly,''_ he thought, but didn't say this aloud. Instead, he stood at attention and bowed. ''I shall see how we can address this situation with the least number of casualties possible. The Survey Corps Special Operation Squad is at your service,'' commander Erwin Smith stated respectfully.

Behind him, Eld Jinn, Oluo Bozado, Petra Ral and Gunther Schultz all bowed their heads, even though they were all thinking the same thing; the sheer ridiculousness of what they had to do was mind-boggling. There was no way they were going to kill people of their own kind, yet they didn't speak up out of place. They trusted Erwin would come up with a solution.

The only one who didn't bow was the short man in the back, who looked bored out of his mind. ''Right,'' Levi Ackerman stated, ''let's handle this quickly. There are bigger problems running around outside of the walls.''

Never would he have imagined that the strongest titan he was ever going to face was the initiator of this coup d'état and that he would meet him deep inside wall Sina.

* * *

 **That's it for now people! The battle for Paradis has officially started! Did you like it, love it, hate it? Please leave a review! I love them! :3 Until next time! ^^**

 **~Syrup**


	8. Battle for Paradis: Desperation

**Back again, once again, people! Enjoy the next chapter! :D**

* * *

 **~Lazer149: (...)** **nice work making this fanfic (...) This is the best AOT fanfic I've read in a while!**

 **Thank you! :)**

 **~Guest: (...)** **I loved all the tension in this chapter (...) I'm so excited to see your next installment! Keep up the good work!**

 **Your kind words are immensely appreciated! Thank a ton! :D**

 **laviidarle-toast: I know you are busy and all, but please don't take that long to update. (...)**

 **I'll definitely try my best!**

* * *

''Titans!'' Speech

 _''Titans!''_ Thoughts

* * *

Dina was cursing to herself violently. Not only did she leave Reiner and Annie to their fates, she also had no idea if Historia was going to make it or not. She had left the unconscious girl at Grisha's side, who looked fearfully at the condition she was in. Needless to say, he was checking all of her vitals immediately.

More time to assess the situation wasn't given to Dina; the Military Police Brigade was doing everything in their power to bring her down, even though they were as scared as trapped mice. She had mild respect for them, but not to the point that she was afraid to kill if really necessary. She had lured them into an open field where they couldn't use their vertical maneuvering equipment.

''Don't be afraid, men! Shoot that monstrosity down!'' the commander in charge yelled, his own anxiety palpable in his voice. Big beads of sweat were rolling down his face and his eyes had dilated into pinpricks.

'' _I need to focus on their cannons like Eren told me,''_ Dina thought to herself, trying to keep her head in the game. She counted at least twenty of them and about one-hundred soldiers in total. Big blasts were heard as the cannons let loose their fire power, the incoming projectiles inaccurate but severely damaging if they hit her.

Most of them passed her harmlessly, exploding behind her and kicking up smoke and dirt. She did see one or two coming straight at her, and out of a reflex, hardened her fingers into sharp claws and slashed at them, reducing them to debris blown away by the wind. _''Now is my chance,''_ she thought with a low growl.

As expected, the cannons needed a lot of time to recharge. It was a time-consuming process that left the Military Police Brigade sweating. Smirking inwardly, Dina went into a sprint, her footsteps drumming on the ground intimidatingly as she approached the terrified soldiers. It was like a small earthquake every time she moved, and going as fast as she did meant she would cover the distance in just a few seconds.

''Fire, fire those damn cannons!'' the commander cried out, shaking in his boots. ''What is taking so long? Don't you see she's going to trample us!?''

''We haven't loaded the cannons yet!''

''She's coming! Do something!''

''Shoot with your rifles!''

Total panic broke out among the Military Police Brigade. Simple bullets didn't harm Dina whatsoever; they inflicted small wounds that she'd heal almost instantly. When she'd reached the small army, most of them were already fleeing. Dina wasn't interested in hurting them anyway; she simply grabbed four cannons and smashed them together with so much force that they were partly reduced to dust. The sound of metal grinding on metal sent a big boom throughout the area, the sound harder than any cannon could produce.

'' _That's four down, only sixteen to go,''_ Dina thought with satisfaction. If she kept this up, she would sweep the Military Police Brigade easily. However, it seemed some brave men and women had stayed behind despite her threatening advances. They'd aimed some of the remaining cannons at her from point blank range.

Dina hissed when one of the cannon's projectiles was fired directly at her face. She tried to block it with her hardened claws, but since she didn't put any force behind the block—but rather used her claws as a shield—some of her fingers cracked as a result while the top of her pink was blown off completely.

At the same time, another blast hit her ankle joint. A sickening crack was heard as her talus and its connective tissues gave away under the force, breaking it and making her fall down to one knee. Dina's eyes widened significantly at the precarious situation she found herself so suddenly in. Her mobility was severely limited and that gave the Military Police Brigade all the time to fire more cannons at her. Moreover, it seemed they figured out she could only harden her fingers into sharp claws, while the rest of her body stayed unprotected.

This seemed to give them some of their courage back. The commander's nervous tone was replaced with one of determination, albeit shaky and uneven in pitch. ''Great job! She's not invincible by any means! Attack now that she's vulnerable. Those of you who have rifles, aim for her eyes, make her blind!''

Dina realized all too quickly what the commander was hoping for. _''They're going to make me choose what part of my body to defend; there's no way I can block all of their attacks,''_ she thought, panic gripping her from every side. Growling loudly, she let loose another ear-splitting shriek, the decibels she produced enough to shatter the nearby windows of the estate. With one hand covering her eyes from the incoming bullets, she sliced her other claw in an arch all around her, hoping to be intimidating and take out as many cannons as possible. She succeeded into hitting four more, the heavy artillery getting swept away like cheap toys, throwing up dirt and big chunks of rocks in their trajectory. Anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by them would be reduced to paste.

However, some brave men and women still managed to fire off a few of the cannons at point blank range; there was no way they were going to miss her. The impact of the explosions made Dina stumble; since she didn't bother protecting her legs, most of the damage was centered around her knees and ankles. A sickening crack was heard as her left foot was severed completely, her right knee cap was as good as demolished and most of her muscle function was lost, boiling hot blood sizzling in the afternoon sun from the multiple wounds she had sustained.

Dina knew she was a sitting duck at this point. Her mobility was completely gone. All they had to do was move the remaining cannons out of her range and then finish her off before she could regenerate enough. _''This isn't good. I have to do something drastic,''_ Dina realized. She didn't like it whatsoever, because she knew it would leave her completely immobilized afterwards, but it was a final resort in precarious situations. She couldn't let the Military Police Brigade reload freely, and so, she focused all of her energy into a final attack.

Dina had learned while training with Reiner that she could only harden her hands, and while the ability wasn't nearly as prominent as Annie's hardening ability—since it was a lot less durable—the extreme sharpness of her claws made up for that, since she was able to slice through almost anything with enough force. She had tried to harden other parts of her body, but only if she put all of her effort into it, something happened, and if it wasn't for Reiner's quick reflexes and sharp senses, he wouldn't even be able to retell the tale.

Now though, Dina smirked as she knew she could go all out without the fear of hurting any of her allies. She closed her eyes and allowed the energy to flow freely through her body. The outside of her titan body began to glow in a titanic hue. Focusing on hardening a random part of her body, she met that same resistance she always did. Grunting, she focused on another part, and another, fighting the resistance while her power kept building up.

Meanwhile, the Military Police Brigade watched the spectacle with fear in their eyes. The confidence that had radiated from them after destroying her legs was short-lived; they all felt something _very_ dangerous was going to happen.

''Take cover!'' the commander shouted heatedly. ''Take—'' he was unable to finish his sentence as Dina unleashed her attack. She finally felt that resistance melting away, but all of her built-up energy couldn't go anywhere except be forced out of her body powerfully. Dina burned brightly, steam rising from her titan. The resulting explosion was powerful enough to cover most of the battlefield. Sharp, baseball-sized lava pebbles were shot in every direction from the blast like a multi-directional machine gun. On top of getting disintegrated by the explosion, the commander was riddled with holes like a Swiss cheese; there wasn't much of him left after that.

Most of the Military Police Brigade unfortunate enough who weren't killed by the blast immediately were completely slaughtered by the pebbles. The explosion shook the ground to its core; angry black smoke rose thickly in the air and most of the vicinity was completely destroyed, the sizzling, metallic pebbles burying themselves deeply in the ground like a hellish meteor shower that had rained upon the earth below.

Dina's titan was reduced to nothing but molten flesh and bones; she couldn't move a single muscle. All she could do was hope that she'd killed most of her opponents, and if some still were alive, she banked on the fact they were either too injured to finish her off, too scared to approach her or made the assumption she was dead herself.

It felt like hours passed; the smoke and fire around her were diminishing gradually by the blowing wind. Dina finally felt some life return to her. Groaning, she exited her titan with a splitting headache and severe muscle impairment; it'd take another half hour at least before she could walk a bit again.

Looking around, all Dina saw was death and destruction and all she could hear was the sound of the wind and the smell of burning flesh. _''This eerie silence…,''_ she thought with a shiver. It made her sick to her stomach. _''Sweet Ymir, please forgive me.''_

She couldn't help but choke up a little, one hand clasped against her mouth while tears threatened to roll from her cheeks. Dina knew what she was getting into before this battle, and she also knew she had no other choice in her situation, but these men and women were Eldians just like she was. She had killed dozens of her own kin and she knew it'd take a long time before she'd be able to accept that. It was only now that full-blown realization hit her, and it hit her hard.

While she was sobbing silently, a shadow appeared in her periphery. A soundless croak escaped Dina's throat as one soldier—a woman, to be exact—had survived her attack with not a single scratch on her body. She was shivering like a log, but her eyes burned with justice as she pointed her rifle at Dina.

Their eyes met briefly, before a gunshot broke the eerie silence for a last time.

* * *

Kenny coughed violently, clearing his airways as he tried to get all the dirt out of his lungs. He was lying miserably on the ground, all of his joints aching as he tried to recall what had happened. _''Those stupid bastards from the Military Police Brigade,''_ he realized with a growl, knowing their non-existent battle experience against a titan combined with their terrible aim caused him almost to kick the bucket. He was lucky none of his extremities were torn off because of the blast.

He tried to stand up, but that was easier said than done. He had wounds all over him—none lethal, luckily, but it was going to take a while before they would be healed fully. _''Hopefully that blast knocked out the kids, that'd spare me a lot of trouble,''_ he thought, searching for his guns, but don't finding them. The blast must've reduced them to useless chunks of metal.

His hopes were quickly put to shambles when he saw two figures through the lingering smoke approaching him slowly but steadily. He could make out the kid's features; both were bloodied beyond recognition like himself, covered entirely in soot and dirt, but their expressions were as sharp as ever. Kenny chuckled—feeling that his trusty knife was still present on his body—and crossed his arms coolly.

''Well, well, you kids are a tenacious bunch, aren't you?'' Kenny praised them mockingly, ''and after that, you still want to fight me?'' His brow was raised in doubt, challenging them and hoping they would either attack him blindly or back off.

Annie and Reiner both didn't respond. Instead, they took their battling stance, waiting patiently for Kenny to make the first move. They were well aware of the hidden knife inside his coat; if they wanted to defeat him, they had to work together. There was no way they could take him one on one.

Kenny grumbled, knowing that his trick didn't work, and grabbed his knife. ''Fine then, if you kids want to throw your life away so recklessly, so be it. I don't particularly like killing off children, so I'll do it quickly.'' He cracked his neck, getting the terrible stiffness out of his muscles. The ache would stay, he knew, but so long as he could move, he didn't care about that.

With swift accuracy, he leaped at Reiner, figuring he'd be the strongest; so, it was in his best interest to get rid of him first. He slashed his knife horizontally, his aim impeccable and directly pointed at Reiner's exposed neck. The surprise on Reiner's face didn't go unnoticed by Kenny. Apparently, he hadn't expected him to move _that_ fast.

By an inch, Reiner managed to dodge by extending his body backwards—in turn, the knife sliced over him relatively harmlessly. At that moment, everything seemed to go in slow-motion for Reiner. He saw the shine on the blade, reflecting the fear in his face for a moment, and he heard the sweeping motion of the sharp steel go past him. He hadn't realized yet Kenny managed to cut him on the cheek, the wound making fresh blood run past his face.

Even though Kenny hit him, he was a bit surprised himself that Reiner dodged most of his attack in time. _''This kid must've had some sort of training,''_ he thought with a grumble. That thought proved to be correct very quickly, because while he was still mid-swing, Annie's foot had found Kenny's cheek with a powerful roundhouse kick.

Pain exploded across Kenny's throbbing skull, his loud cry akin of a furious and wounded animal. Annie tried to follow it up with another kick across his other cheek, but he blocked it with his arm, a loud thud echoing through his body when the attack hit him. _''I can't underestimate these kids,''_ he thought with horror, knowing now that this fight was going to be anything but easy. While he blocked Annie's foot, he tried to grab it with the intent to stab his knife right through her leg.

Kenny's grin turned wider when he saw Annie gasp, realizing too late what he planned to do. However, Reiner had recovered enough to deliver a punch in Kenny's gut, knocking the wind out of him before bashing him away with his shoulder, making him stumble. ''Annie, are you all right?'' Reiner questioned worriedly.

She nodded her head. ''I'm fine. Just look after yourself,'' she stated, pointing to the cut on his cheek. Reiner touched his cheek to see his blood paint his fingers red. He grumbled a little, but then recomposed himself. ''I will, Annie. let's keep at it.''

Meanwhile, Kenny laughed, spitting out some blood that had accumulated in his mouth. ''You kids are a bit tougher than I expected, I'll give you that,'' he admitted, clutching his upset stomach a little. ''However, I'm done playing games now.'' He roared at the top of his lungs; the glint that appeared in his eyes animalistic. It appeared he was going for Reiner again, but at the last moment, he threw his knife at Annie with a crooked smirk on his face.

The sharp object flew at Annie with incredible speed. She could only raise up both of her arms in defense, which made the blade go cleanly through her underarm out of the other side. Intense pain radiated from her arm all the way through her body, a mind-numbing, shooting sensation that had her screaming as blood rushed out of the wound while Kenny's knife was still stuck in it, the sharp end of the blade just inches away from her face. If the blade had been any longer, she would've lost an eye.

Reiner had no time to respond to this new predicament; Kenny was on top of him in an instant, his fist connected with his nose and knocked him off his feet. He moaned in absolute pain; his nose clearly broken as blood spew forth from it.

Kenny laughed again, seeing how Annie was on her knees, clutching her arm while Reiner was clearly disoriented. ''This is what happens when you mess with grown-ups and grown-ups' stuff, kids. I don't know who you are, but I have every intention of finding out. Even if that means I have to torture you,'' he said maliciously, kicking Reiner in his stomach while he was trying to get up.

Grabbing him by his hair, Kenny lifted him in the air, which made Reiner cry out in pain. ''You're not from around here, that is for sure,'' he mused, ''are you from the underground, perhaps?''

Reiner just hissed and tried to struggle futilely, which made Kenny shrug. ''Figured you didn't want to talk.'' He hurled him towards Annie, making them both crash into each other painfully.

''However, I have methods for that,'' he continued, cracking his knuckles. ''Let's see here.'' He was about to grab Reiner again—who was lying on top what Kenny thought was an unconscious Annie—when Annie kicked upwards, hitting him in the wrist and making his pink bend the complete opposite way, breaking it in multiple places.

Kenny's cry was deep; his hand flinching backwards at the sudden strike. ''What…'' he hissed, seeing how Reiner had put extra pressure on Annie's wound, making sure she wasn't bleeding out. He smartly hadn't taken out the knife whatsoever, and with the time given to them, they went on the offense.

Like an oiled machine they attacked together; Reiner used his fists to deliver the heavy blows while Annie stayed in the back, using only her legs to provide back-up. Kenny hissed as Reiner managed to land a punch on his nose, giving Annie enough time to kick him hard in his liver. He tried to create some space for himself by backing up, but both Annie and Reiner didn't relent whatsoever. Their flurry of blows caught Kenny off guard completely.

'' _Their tenacity is incredible. If they keep this up, they might overwhelm me,''_ Kenny thought, his mind reeling as it dawned on him that he was in a serious predicament right now. _''Am I seriously going down to two random kids?''_ Kenny didn't want to believe it, but every time he tried to attack Reiner, Annie would be there to block it for him, and he couldn't get to Annie because Reiner was protecting her in turn.

Reiner saw this too. He knew it was possible to take out Kenny, but he had to consider Annie's condition too. If they dragged out the battle for too long, chances were present that Annie would faint because of blood loss. Therefore, he did something bold.

He completely let himself be open for attack, charging Kenny like a bull, and the mercenary took it with open arms. He tried to kick Reiner's face with the intention to knock him out cold, but Reiner moved his head out of the way just in time so it was his shoulder that took the beating. He was sure he heard something crack, but full on adrenaline as he was, he tackled Kenny's legs anyway, bringing him down to the ground.

''Now, Annie!'' Reiner screamed, hoping they had enough time for his plan to work. Annie wasted no time and leaped on top of Kenny like a lioness. With her arm still impaled with Kenny's knife, she brought it down to his chest while grabbing the hilt for leverage and extra strength to push it down, having every intent to stab the pointy end straight through his heart.

Kenny's eyes widened significantly and out of pure reflex grabbed Annie's hand, halting her downwards momentum just in time. He struggled to push her hand away, using every fiber of his being to do so. Kenny's mind was screaming out to him to do something, and with strength he hadn't thought he possessed, used his other hand with his broken pink to grab Annie's arm as well, completely ignoring the pain and shifting the momentum in his favour.

Slowly, he was pushing her away, trying with all his might to turn the sharp end of the blade around so he could impale it in her throat. _''C'mon, you brat,''_ he thought maliciously, his confidence returning, _''Just a bit more before you can taste my blade.''_

However, he had forgotten to take into account that Reiner was still up and running as well. With a loud roar, Reiner grabbed both of Annie's hands and started to push it downwards as well, grunting all the way as he tried to overpower Kenny.

To Kenny's horror, they actually started to succeed. The sharp tip of the blade was inching closer to his chest, which made his breathing quicken and his chest heave. ''Wait… Wait!'' he sputtered out in denial, hoping he could somehow change their mind.

However, with a sudden push, the tip of the blade disappeared inside Kenny's chest, who looked on in pure disbelief. His strength started to fade, and his breath became heavy and filled with blood as more and more of his knife was buried in his chest cavity, inevitably reaching his heart. He gurgled and started to spasm helplessly as Annie and Reiner finished the job, pushing the blade in as far as it was able to.

The life inside his eyes disappeared, and his hands fell uselessly to his sides. Both Annie and Reiner stopped pushing, the former slowly retracting the blade seemingly emotionlessly while the latter looked on worriedly. ''We need to take you to Grisha immediately,'' Reiner stated, not giving any attention to Kenny's corpse as he stood up and helped Annie up as well.

''You'll need to help me then,'' Annie admitted, her face sweating and her eyes pale. It was a miracle she was still standing after losing so much blood. Reiner supported her protectively, carrying most of her weight as they stumbled like broken soldiers over the battlefield, but on the inside, they felt like proud warriors coming home from a massive victory.

* * *

If Grisha thought the situation couldn't escalate any further, then he was in for a big surprise. At the moment, he was sweating profusely as he examined the unconscious form of Historia. Her pulse was growing weak, which indicated she was losing blood internally. This was a worse case scenario for a multitude of reasons, one of them being that she needed medical attention quickly or else she wouldn't survive.

The fact her blood pooled in her mouth and then slowly dribbled out of it made Grisha assume she most likely had torn a structure in her upper torso. He wiped the sweat away from his face as he palpated her sternum and costae, desperately trying to feel if he could locate any abnormalities underneath that gave away what structure was damaged.

'' _Her heart is still pumping; the fact she isn't losing blood very quickly is a big relief as well. It means her aorta is probably intact. The inferior and superior vena cava look to have been spared as well. Her lungs however…''_ Grisha thought, noticing how raspy and irregular her breathing pattern had become.

'' _It has to be one of the lung cavities; if there's a tear I need to stitch it, but in conditions like these…''_ His nervousness was growing. He was ill equipped to perform such an intense procedure in the middle of nowhere. Moreover, Historia was covered entirely in dirt and soot. Chances of an infection were huge and he had no idea which cavity was damaged; there was simply no way to find out in such a short period of time without the proper tools, which Paradis didn't even have anyway.

'' _I have no choice. I have to do an improvised operation.''_ Grisha sucked in a lung full of air. He knew how many things could go wrong. The chances of succeeding were highly improbable, starting with the fact Historia needed fresh blood to even get _through_ this surgery.

'' _You need to start a transfusion,''_ a voice inside his mind whispered. Sweat started to appear over Grisha's face all over again. _''But I don't even know her blood type. I'm not a universal donor, so what if her body rejects it? She could have an ABO Incompatibility Reaction. I have to bet on the chance she is AB and therefore a universal receiver.''_ Gambling with a life so carelessly like that was something Grisha would _never_ do if the circumstances were any different.

'' _Do it,''_ that same voice whispered. He nodded his head, already getting the necessary materials ready; he knew there was no other option available. Getting the blood flowing through a needle and a fresh bag, Grisha prepared himself mentally.

* * *

 **That's all for now, people! Did you like it, love it, hate it? Please leave a review! I love to read and respond to them all! Until next time. :)**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


	9. Battle for Paradis: Confrontations

**Welcome back, people! I hope all of you have had a wonderful month! Here's the next chapter, please enjoy! :D**

* * *

 **~Nigga-san: NOOOOO! Did Dina really die? That sucks, she could have been the mother Historia never had.**

 **That's assuming Historia is going to make it as well. ;)**

 **~Shiranai Atsune: YAY! A NEW UPDATE! YES! Who are they gonna give the other Titan powers?**

 **I have some candidates in mind, but nothing is certain yet about that.**

 **~Guest: I love this alternative story, it is the best, I wonder if the next chapter will be Levi vs Eren.**

 **Thank you! You will find out this chapter! ^^**

 **~Guest: Update soon!**

 **Hope this is soon enough! :)**

 **~Guest: So intense, but time will kill the excitement. Sad. I hate it that it took so long to update. Please be considerate to your followers.**

 **I always try my best, but sometimes, real life isn't so kind to you.**

 **~Guest: Ummm...where is Armin?**

 **He is home in Shiganshina right now. :P**

 **~Ellie: This story is phenomenal! (...) I was wondering if we are going to be seeing Armin, Sasha, Connie, Jean, and Marco in the later chapters? (...)**

 **Thanks a lot for your kind words! :D Yes, we will be seeing them in the later chapters for sure!**

* * *

''Titans!'' Speech

 _''Titans!''_ Thoughts

* * *

Nile Dawk, commander of the Military Police Brigade, considered himself to be a very rational human being. He always prided himself for looking at every possible option and outcome before making a decision. Therefore, he was never totally committed to one way. So, when all hell broke loose in the interior and the Garrison started to rebel against the fraud king and the nobility who controlled him, Nile was incredibly indecisive deep down.

He knew his heart was loyal to the nobility who had managed to keep everything peaceful for one-hundred years, but the lie they had put forth was mind boggling and had angered him beyond comprehension. _''I wonder,''_ he thought with gritted teeth as he ordered his men to stand their ground and defend the interior with everything they had, '' _what other secrets they are hiding if they have to resort to such a lie.''_

''Listen up, men! Don't let the Garrison come beyond this line. They are not allowed, under any circumstance, to get inside the palace and confront the king and the nobility, understood?''

''Sir, yes sir!'' they all yelled loyally.

'' _Because after this is over,''_ Nile thought, loading his rifle with a sour taste in his mouth, '' _I will confront the royal families myself.''_

His tactic against the Garrison was simple, he'd set up a three-layer defense around the palace where every ring of fire would be back-up for the next ring. Heavy artillery in the back, light artillery in the middle and the foot soldiers at the front line. Since they were defending, they had all the advantage in the world.

'' _The area is secured and most civilians have been safely evacuated, so if there's going to be any more blood spilled today, it'll be all people who've sworn with their lives to protect the state. Now we only have to wait for the Garrison to arrive.''_

Nile didn't have to wait for long. For some reason, he wasn't surprised to see that it was Dot Pixis who lead the way, but what he didn't expect was the young teenager who walked right next to him. Both of their faces were filled with determination; something that Nile didn't like one bit. _''They are serious about going all the way with this coup_ ,'' he thought, hissing to himself. Nile had hoped he would've been able to have some room for negotiation, but the way how Dot and the boy carried themselves just radiated a strength that told him they would not be able to be persuaded. Still, Nile wasn't going to mindlessly fire at them and start a potential bloodbath that could've easily been avoided—something that Dot knew as well, hence why he wasn't afraid in the slightest when he stepped forward and raised his voice.

''Captain Nile Dawk, as general of the Garrison, I speak on behalf of everybody involved in this coup that we should solve this little feud in a manner that both suits us well,'' he roared, his lion-like voice thundering all across the pavements and the homes the Military Police Brigade had barricaded off.

Nile would never understand where Dot could keep so much air and still produce enough volume to put a titan's roar to shame. He shook his head mentally; he was happy Dot wanted to negotiate, at least. _''Although I have no idea who the boy is yet. Is he important in any way that he stands so firm and strong at Dot's side?''_ he wondered. Nile could only speculate at this point, so he answered Dot's offer to negotiate firmly. ''What would that be, general Dot Pixis? Certainly not our immediate surrender, right?''

Dot's solid steel expression softened somewhat to make room for a small grin. ''I wouldn't expect you to. However,'' he continued, mentioning to the boy, ''I possess information that might change our future forever.''

Nile perked one of his brows. _''Is he talking about the kid? What information would he have that could change our future?''_ He had trouble believing Dot, but he was interested to hear what they had to say for sure. ''Go on,'' he uttered.

''Very well. Allow me to introduce Eren Yeager. He knows all about the secrets surrounding the titans and how to destroy them once and for all. However, this is only possible if we unify and work together. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we trust each other,'' Dot responded. The shocked murmurs that filled the air by the Military Police Brigade were almost palpable. Even Nile was gasping as the boy named Eren took over and let his voice be heard.

''I know it is hard to believe, because the secrets surrounding the titans are not easily accepted. I, however, will be willing to show you that I have proof about the secrets surrounding the titans, if I have your word that you won't fire. I trust you enough that you will,'' Eren spoke resolutely to Nile. If the circumstances were any different, Nile would've laughed, but the situation was so ridiculous that he couldn't help but agree. _''He doesn't look a day older than twelve. What is going on?''_ he murmured. Shaking his head mentally, he figured he'd just try to approach this with an open mind. ''All right then. You have my word. Show me the proof you are speaking of.''

Eren nodded his head and two women stepped forwards from the army of the Garrison. Nile recognized the older woman as Frieda Reiss, the daughter of Rod Reiss. The Reiss family was well respected under the ranks of the Military Police Brigade, so seeing her amidst the Garrison proved to be another huge shock. The younger girl was around Eren's age. Nile couldn't identify her, but he was certain he was going to be introduced to her very soon.

''Good afternoon, loyal men and women from the Military Police Brigade,'' Frieda said sweetly. ''As most of you may know, my name is Frieda Reiss and I will be representing Eren Yeager's proof. Next to me is Ymir and she has the ability to turn into a titan.''

If the whole scene wasn't ludicrous enough, Nile was sure that he had hit his head and that he was dreaming right now. He eyed his fellow men and women, who were either looking at Frieda if she had grown an extra head, or sweating profusely while whispering nonsense. _''Either they are insane, or this Eren Yeager has the ability to hypnotize people at will,''_ Nile thought, his head throbbing at the prospect there were people who could turn willingly into the monstrosities that had almost wiped out humanity. _''Still, it's very clever to make Frieda Reiss of all people show it off. The fact she is well respected make their claims very credible.''_

Frieda's smile didn't waver at the pure radiance of disbelief she got in turn. This was to be expected, so she continued like nothing was wrong whatsoever. ''Please allow me to demonstrate. Ymir?''

Nile watched incredulously as Ymir cut herself with a knife in her open palm. Immediately, a bright yellow thunder cracked down from the sky above, where Ymir stood just a second ago. The miniature quake and the bright flash made most of the Military Police Brigade cry out in panic. The resulting smoke obscured their vision, but when it cleared, a five-meter class titan stood in the place of Ymir.

Most of the Military Police Brigade trembled, their weapons raised in defiance at the undeniable black magic they just witnessed. ''Hold your fire!'' Nile shouted out in obvious fear himself. He wasn't sure what to make of this situation, but one thing was certain, Eren was probably speaking the truth.

''Captain!?'' some of his men croaked in utter stupor. They'd never seen a titan before in their life, and now all of a sudden, they were face to face with one in the deepest part of wall Sina and they couldn't attack it?

''I made a promise to Eren Yeager, and I tend to keep that promise,'' Nile elaborated, ''besides, the titan known as Ymir hasn't done anything yet. She is just standing there.'' That seemed to calm down the Military Police Brigade somewhat. Tensely, they waited, wondering how this was going to end.

Frieda smiled and continued her speech. ''Please don't be afraid. This is merely an example to show that Eren Yeager has the answers that we've been looking for. He is willing to share all the information that he knows about the titans, in exchange that the _real_ royal family will rule behind the walls.'' She paused for a moment, before continuing, ''which would be the Reiss family.''

Nile's eyes widened once more. _''So that means Frieda would be the new ruler?''_ It suddenly started to dawn on him that all of this was awfully convenient for Rod Reiss and Frieda. He didn't know yet what Dot Pixis would get out of it, or even this Eren Yeager, but he wasn't going to give them a free pass until he'd questioned the higher-ups himself.

''Frieda Reiss, this demonstration is over,'' Nile responded sharply. ''I will give you five minutes to retreat peacefully, or we will open fire.''

Frieda bowed her head respectfully. ''As you wish, captain. I shall make my leave now.'' She eyed Dot for a moment, who nodded his head. He too, made his leave. However, Eren and Ymir made no attempt to move yet.

''Eren Yeager, this is my final warning,'' Nile shouted, confused why the boy was still standing there. ''if you haven't moved in exactly three minutes from now, I will show no mercy. Take your titan with you and get out of here.''

''I'm afraid I can't do that, captain,'' Eren responded coolly and resolutely. ''I will reform Paradis one way or the other, and right now, you are standing in our way. I rather not resort to violence, but if that is what it takes, then so be it.''

Nile was surprised his head hadn't exploded yet from all the throbbing it did. _''Reform Paradis? What is he talking about?''_ He couldn't comprehend how this kid could stand there like a seasoned war general and not be afraid whatsoever. ''Enough! My patience is running thin. I will count to ten and then you'll either walk away or we will blow you away instead!''

A small, confident smirk appeared on Eren's face as he cracked his neck. ''You ready, Ymir? Just as we planned.'' He suddenly bit down on the skin of his hand. With growing dread and realization, Nile's suspicions were confirmed violently. The streets shook on their foundations and the blast of Eren's transformation made Nile's inner ears pop and ring. Anxiety gripped him around the throat when the smoke cleared enough to see another titan standing in Eren's place, this one _a lot_ bigger than Ymir. He roared loudly, intimidating the Military Police Brigade while Ymir climbed on his shoulder.

''This is—'' Nile hissed to himself before he recognized the stance Eren had taken; he was preparing for a sprint and about to ram himself straight through all three layers of his defense. ''Fire the cannons!'' Nile screamed at the top of his lungs. ''Stop those titans from advancing! Don't let them through!''

However, just as Nile had expected, the panic that had broken out between his ranks had everybody in a frenzy. People were screaming bloody murder and abandoning their posts left and right. In the end, his command wasn't even heard. _''So, this is how I will meet my end?''_ Nile thought, his whole body petrified as Eren started his dash. His feet pulverized the street's cobble stone when he set off, his humongous frame making it inevitable that buildings were damaged left and right from him. All the while, he came closer and closer in turning Nile into nothing more than a bloody paste.

Just as Nile thought everything was over—closing his eyes to the impending doom that loomed over him, quite literally so—Eren skidded to a halt, kicking up rubble, pebbles and a lot of dust, which surprisingly all zoomed past Nile without hitting him. When he opening his eyes again, he was face to face with Eren's shins.

He looked up to see Eren giving him a quick glance, before he ignored him completely. _''He stopped… but why?''_ Nile thought hoarsely, his heart beating a mile a minute. His answer came shortly afterwards.

''Oi, captain, take your men and leave this area,'' Levi spoke, his voice a bit surprised by the spectacle Eren had caused, but mostly annoyed. All around him vertical maneuvering equipment were being shot down as Eld Jinn, Oluo Bozado, Petra Ral and Gunther Schultz accompanied him from the higher vantage points they'd been occupying. ''Sir, there are no more immediate titans in the area,'' Gunther reported, ''the Garrison has retreated a far amount, probably not to get caught up in the crossfire of the titans' destruction.''

Levi nodded his head, eyeing his opponents up and down. ''Leave them for now. These two titans here actually have a functioning brain. If I have to guess, they will not go down easily.'' On the outside, Levi didn't show any emotion, but on the inside, he had seen the slight hesitance that appeared in Eren's movements the moment he spotted him. _''He knows I am dangerous. I can't underestimate him.''_ He beckoned to his squad with a wave of his hand. ''Get ready for battle, this will take us every bit of effort we can muster.'' Drawing his blades while his team did the same, he patiently waited what Eren and Ymir were going to do in retaliation.

* * *

Eren was cursing every single swear word he knew at the top of his head. His plan had been simple: since the Military Police Brigade wasn't exactly known for their bravery, he was going to bluff crushing them into oblivion in the hopes they'd get so scared that they would flee. His simple deduction proved to be correct when he started his intimidating sprint; most of his opponents didn't know how fast they had to scramble. Eren had smirked inwardly. He didn't like the Military Police Brigade whatsoever because of its obvious corruption between the ranks. Still, that didn't mean he was going to kill them all if he could avoid it.

Happy as he had been that his plan seemingly worked out, turned into immediate horror when he saw the last person he wanted to see blocking his path. _''There is no way!''_ he thought, his heart suddenly beating a mile a minute. _''What is Levi doing here?''_ Eren grumbled as he eyed Humanity's Strongest up and down, completely ignoring Nile Dawk who had turned into a statue at his feet.

'' _He should be on an expedition outside the walls. But if he is here, then that means…''_ Just as he was thinking it, Levi's elite squad joined him at his side. Eren remembered them like yesterday. It was just odd seeing them five years younger. _''This isn't good. Ymir has way too little battle experience to be facing off against them. Levi needs every ounce of my attention if I want to defeat him without killing him.''_ If Eren was honest with himself, he wasn't even sure that he could kill Levi even if he wanted to. He looked at Ymir worryingly and nodded twice: the signal for her to retreat. _''She needs Bertolt's and Mikasa's back up,''_ he reasoned. _''In the meantime, I have to hold off Levi as best as I can.''_

Ymir didn't hesitate to follow Eren's order. She recognized Levi and his squat from the composition drawings his father had made for them and knew how dangerous they were. _''Eren, please be careful,''_ she thought, the worry almost palpable in her movements as she jumped from his shoulder and took a run for it. She half expected she wouldn't be followed, but those hopes were instantly crushed when three of Levi's team members took after her in hot pursuit with their vertical maneuvering equipment. Eren let them go after Ymir without even bothering to stop them; he knew she could outrun them and be able to fight them with Bertolt's and Mikasa's help. He wasn't surprised to see that Levi had ordered Petra to stay at his side. She was the youngest of the group and he probably thought she'd be safer if he could protect her directly.

'' _You've never shown much emotion on the outside about your recruits,''_ Eren thought, his hands turning to fists, _''but on the inside, you care a lot about them, and Petra has always been special to you, hasn't she?''_ He took one menacing step forwards, careful not to crush Nile as he did so, since he was still under Medusa's spell underneath him. _''Don't worry. I'll not hurt her. You however, are far too dangerous. I apologize in advance if I break a few bones…''_ His next step had more power to it, his eyes calm and calculated. _''Now come at me!''_

Eren roared at the top of his lungs, his quick dash speeding him up, hoping to catch Levi off guard. _''He's going to dodge and do his famous tornado spin on your arm the moment you try to punch him to oblivion, just like he did to Annie and Zeke,''_ his mind whispered to him. Predicting this, he didn't turn his fist to steel-like proportions, but rather his wrist. The moment Levi would initiate the attack, his blades would instantly get pulverized if they hit his wrist, rendering the rest of the attack completely useless.

Eren brought his fist down, but held back considerably in speed. Even if he knew Levi was going to dodge his attack if he put all of his effort into it, he didn't want to risk permanently injuring him if he could avoid it. Levi's expression didn't change one bit and, just like Eren thought, showed him his Ackerman instincts by preparing himself for his spin attack. He shot his grappling hook into Eren's shoulder, dodged his fist easily and was confident he was going to slice Eren's entire arm into nothing but pieces of ham.

His gasp when Eren's wrist destroyed his blades made Eren smirk inwardly. _''That's two blades down. Six to go.''_ However, if Eren thought Levi would back off from his attack, he made a grave error. Humanity's Strongest kept up his spinning attack, not doing any damage, but changing his broken blades _while_ he was still spinning. When he had reached Eren's shoulder, he was high above him from the momentum he had created, both new blades shining brightly in the sun with every intent to strike him down.

'' _Your nape!''_ Eren's thoughts screamed to him, yet his rational side protected his eyes instead by covering it up with one of his hands. It proved to be the right decision, because Levi's precision cut off four of his fingers. Steaming hot blood splattered out of the wounds while Levi shot another grappling hook into one of the walls of a nearby building, landing on it and using the counter-momentum to jump off of it and throw himself back at Eren again.

'' _You know he's fast, Eren. Stop being stupefied,''_ he scolded himself as he looked at his cut off fingers lying on the ground uselessly. Instead of defending himself against Levi's incoming assault, Eren made the wise decision to jump forwards, ensnaring Levi's grappling hook and throwing him completely off trajectory.

Levi hissed at the smart tactic. He had to unhook himself less he was going to be slammed into a wall violently. He caught himself by shooting another two grappling hooks into the ground to stop his velocity. The sudden change in momentum made his body cry out in protest. He landed on the pavement with a roll, tsking to himself. _''He predicted every single move I did so far. He must've studied me well to be able to do so.''_

While Levi was getting another good read of his opponent, Petra was high into the air behind Eren, coming down on his nape to slice it open like a turkey. Her battle cry was loud and powerful, but the simple hardening trick Eren did to protect his nape was enough to break her blades like they were made of glass. Petra's eyes widened significantly as Eren stared at her in response. She backed off immediately, but noticed for some odd reason that he didn't even try to attack her. She landed safely next to Levi, her voice pitched higher than normal as she spoke to him.

''Captain, what do we do now? Our blades don't do anything to him if he hardens his skin like that!'' It was obvious Petra was in a bit of panic. Levi didn't respond immediately, but when he did, his voice was just as calm as usual. ''He's holding back,'' he responded. ''His intention isn't to kill us, but rather to make us run out of gas and blades. If we're going for a war of attrition, we are surely going to lose. Petra, we are going to retreat for now.''

''Captain?'' she whispered, not believing her ears. ''Are we just going to allow him to reach the higher-ups and kill them?''

''No, because he is going to follow us,'' he replied without a single bit of doubt. ''He knows we are way more important to keep an eye on than those nobles. He isn't going to do anything to them until he has defeated us. Now let's go!'' Levi shot his grappling hook away from Eren, making his retreat while Petra did the same. Just like he had predicted, Eren began to run after them, not at full speed, but enough to keep up with them.

Petra looked back at the Attack Titan with amazement in her eyes, but also a million questions. _''Why isn't he trying to attack us now? What are your intentions with all of this? Who are you truly, Eren Yeager?''_

* * *

When Ymir was training with Eren into controlling her titan properly, she was ecstatic how fast she was when running on all fours. She felt like a Cheetah as she moved through the different streets, trying to shake off her pursuers. It seemed to work somewhat, because even though their mobility was greater than hers, she was simply too fast. _''Just one more corner before I have the back-up I need,''_ Ymir thought, her confidence returning somewhat.

Eld and Gunther were so focused on keeping up that they completely failed to notice the trap they'd fallen in. Oluo, however, had a lot more experience, and recognized the open space immediately as a potential dead-trap to be shot from in every direction. ''Scatter!'' he shouted, pushing his teammates away from each other just in the nick of time. Not a second later, multiple gunshots were heard in the distance. Bullets ricocheted off of Oluo's vertical maneuvering equipment, puncturing a hole in one of the gas tanks and making one of his grappling hooks malfunction.

He gritted his teeth and brought himself down to the ground, hiding behind the fountain that stood tall and proud in the middle of the plaza. He hoped they weren't surrounded, otherwise he was done for.

''Oluo!'' Eld screamed, trying to give his teammate, who arguably just saved his life, the back-up he needed in this precarious situation. However, out of nowhere, Ymir turned around and went on the offense, slicing her claw at Eld and catching him completely off guard. He could only watch and protect his face in a reflex, knowing he wasn't going to survive this one. He expected incredible pain to radiate through his whole body before he would die and drop out of the sky like a sack of flour, but instead he felt Ymir's claw wrap around him rather roughly. Her swipe still knocked the wind out of him and probably gave him a light concussion in the process, but he was pretty much alive, still.

She growled at him menacingly, which made him whimper and scared shitless. _''Oh please, don't eat me,''_ he thought, his whole body shivering in incredible fear. She simply brought her other hand to his vertical maneuvering equipment and crushed it, before putting Eld down. He looked at her in absolute confusion, not understanding why she didn't kill him. Instead, she gently flicked one of her fingers against his face, rendering him unconscious and knocking him out of the battle.

'' _That's one,''_ she thought with extreme satisfaction, _''now where is that guy who Mikasa and Bertolt managed to hit?''_ Ymir looked around, but couldn't find him anywhere. She didn't have much time to ponder where he went, because Gunther came in with the counter attack.

''You bastard!'' he screamed at the top of his lungs, slicing at Ymir's right hand and severing it straight from her wrist. She looked at it dumbly for a moment, not yet realizing she lost one of her claws before Gunther came down and scooped up Eld's unconscious body. _''I have to get him out of here,''_ he thought quickly. _''I just hope Oluo is all right…''_ While he was flying away, Ymir picked up her hand from the ground in almost a daze.

'' _He just sliced it off,''_ she thought in complete stupor, her shock greater than she would've expected. She knew it was just going to regrow, but it was the first time in her life that she lost a part of one of her limbs. Her surprise turned to rage as she saw Gunther retreating. _''So, you want my claw, right?''_ she thought, tightening her other hand around it with a low growl, _''Well, here you go then!''_ she brought her arm back, and with an accuracy that would put the Beast Titan to shame, threw her _own hand_ at Gunther, her claws facing forwards with every intention to hurt him severely.

'' _What the—''_ Gunther thought while hissing in panic. He tried to change his trajectory, but Ymir's claw was almost a bullet. It punctured straight through his vertical maneuvering equipment, the top of her sharp claws burying themselves in his back. He cried out in pain, his whole body screaming at him as he lost control and crashed to the ground.

Gunther had never felt so much pain in his life. He was completely left defenseless as Ymir intimidatingly approached him and Eld's unconscious body. He knew it was over at this point _''Eld, please forgive me for not being able to protect you,''_ he thought as he closed his eyes for the inevitable end of his life.

* * *

Bertolt was impressed by Mikasa's impeccable aim. They had both managed to hit Oluo's vertical maneuvering equipment from a pretty respectable distance and take him out of the battle. They were now focusing on the battle that was going on between Ymir, Eld and Gunther, but seeing that she was handling them pretty well, they weren't too worried about that. ''Keep your eyes on the perimeter,'' Bertolt suggested wisely, ''if there are any people of the Military Police Brigade trying to intervene, we need to be prepared and take them out before they can overwhelm Ymir.''

''Right!'' Mikasa agreed, her eyes as sharp as an eagle. She had made a promise to Eren, and she was going to prove to him that she could keep that promise. _''I hope he's doing okay. If he sent Ymir on the retreat so quickly, it can only mean he is battling this Levi he was talking about.''_ Mikasa was still a bit uncomfortable she shared the same last name as him. It probably meant Eren knew all about her heritage as well. She was dying to ask him all about it, but figured she'd wait until after the battle. _''After all,''_ she'd reasoned, _''the information may distract me from my task, which is providing back-up for Ymir.''_

While she was so focused, she almost failed to notice that somebody had sneakily climbed up the tower they had taken refuge in—almost. Bertolt turned around as quickly as he could as he spotted the intruder, hissing like a snake as he stood face to face with none other than Oluo himself. Somehow, he had managed to escape their eyes and taken them by surprise. Bertolt tried to aim his rifle at him, but Oluo stopped him by grabbing it, his physical strength easily overpowering him wasn't it for Mikasa.

''Bertolt!'' she cried, using a shoulder bash to knock Oluo off balance. He grunted, but still managed to take Bertolt's rifle and throw it off of the tower. He saw that Mikasa still had a firm grip of her own weapon, so before he could get the answers he wanted, he had to disarm her as well. _''Still, two_ children, _not older than twelve, and they both managed to hit my_ _vertical maneuvering equipment from that distance?''_ Oluo didn't know if he should be impressed or surprised. Either way, he wasn't about to take their lives. Oluo considered himself a killer if the situation asked for it, but he certainly wasn't a child murderer. Thinking quickly, he did a low kick with his right leg, hoping to make Mikasa trip and fall.

To his absolute stupor, however, she dodged it like it was the easiest thing in the world and stomped the blunt end of her weapon against his nose in retaliation. Oluo cried out in pain as his nose erupted into blood, stumbling backwards a bit because of the sudden dizziness that overtook him. He wanted to grab one of his blades, but Mikasa had her rifle pointed to him at point blank range before he could even attempt it. ''Stop right there, Oluo, or else I won't hesitate to pull the trigger,'' she said, her voice dead serious.

Oluo couldn't believe it, but this girl certainly packed a punch and had outplayed him that easily. He chuckled and raised both his hands in mock surrender. ''You got me. You have some nice reflexes there, young lady,'' he complimented her, trying to placate her as best as he could. _''How does she even know my name, though?''_ he thought in bewilderment.

Mikasa harrumphed, still keeping her rifle pointed at him while Bertolt stripped him off of his vertical maneuvering equipment. ''Don't try anything funny,'' he suggested angrily, ''because I know for a fact she isn't messing around.''

Oluo didn't say anything and allowed himself to be disarmed. When he was, Bertolt ordered him to get on his knees. He complied without question, showing no sign of resistance. Then, Bertolt beckoned to Mikasa with his hand. ''Keep a good eye on him. I'll grab some rope and tie him up.''

She nodded her head, her eyes never leaving Oluo's. He continued to stay as idle as possible, especially when Bertolt got behind him to tie his hands behind his back. ''You know,'' he said suddenly, making Mikasa tense up while his hands were still raised high into the air, ''rifles like yours are very sensitive. A grain of sand or a loose bolt makes the thing jam and completely useless.''

'' _What is he talking about?''_ Mikasa thought in confusion. Her question was soon answered as her eyes steadily grew in horror when Oluo calmly opened one of his palms to show the bolt that regulated the hammer mechanism on her rifle. _''What—''_ She pulled the trigger, but it only made a clicking sound. _''Did he really disarm my rifle when I attacked him? How!?''_ she thought in disbelief, panic overtaking her. ''Bertolt!'' she cried out, but she was already too late.

Oluo suddenly elbowed Bertolt straight in the face when he least expected it, making him crash to the ground violently, his nose broken while he screamed and thrashed around in pain. Mikasa's moment of panic was all Oluo needed to turn the ties into his favor. He threw his body forwards, pushing Mikasa back until he had her at the edge of the tower. ''Now,'' he continued calmly, not underestimating his opponents anymore, ''if you don't _accidentally_ want to fall from this tower and kiss the cold hard ground, I suggest you will listen to what I tell you to do.''

Mikasa's heart was beating a mile a minute as she nodded her head in defeat, closing her eyes in shame. _''I am so sorry, Eren,''_ she thought, trying to hold back her tears, _''I failed you.''_

* * *

 **That's all for now, people! Did you like it, love it, hate it? Replying to reviews is my passion, so definitely leave your thoughts below! Next chapter should wrap this arc up, so hang in tight, people! Until then. ^^**

 **~Syrup-Waffle**


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